mem 


'.$'-'&  *'..&• 


i,    •«•    V  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


SOUTHERN  BRANCH, 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 

LIBRARY, 

•i-OS  ANGELES,  CALIF. 


YALE  LECTURES  ON  THE 
RESPONSIBILITIES  OF  CITIZENSHIP 


AMERICAN'  CITIZENSHIP.  By  the  late  DAVID  J.  BREWER,  Asso- 
ciate Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
131  pages. 

THE  CITIZEN*  IN  His  RELATION  TO  THE  INDUSTRIAL  SITUATION. 
By  the  late  HENBY  CODMAN  POTTER,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Bishop  of 
New  York.  248  pages. 

THE  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  FREEDOM  AND  RESPONSIBILITY  IN  THE 
EVOLUTION  OF  DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT.  By  ARTHUR  TWIN- 
ING HADLEY,  PH.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Yale  University. 
(Third  printing.)  175  pages. 

FOUR  ASPECTS  OF  Civic  DUTY.  By  WILLIAM  HOWARD  TAFT, 
LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  as  President  of  the  United  States.  (Second 
printing.)  Ill  pages. 

THE  CITIZEN'S  PART  IN  GOVERNMENT.  By  HON.  ELIHU  ROOT, 
LL.D.,  D.C.L.  123  pages. 

THE  HINDRANCES  TO  GOOD  CITIZENSHIP.  By  RT.  HON.  JAMES 
BRYCE,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  British  Ambassador  to  the 
United  States.  (Fourth  printing.)  138  pages. 

CONDITIONS  OF  PROGRESS  IN  DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMENT.  By 
CHARLES  EVANS  HUGHES,  LL.D.,  formerly  Associate  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  (Second  print- 
ing.) 123  pages. 

AMERICA  IN  THE  MAKING.  By  REV.  LYMAN  ABBOTT,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  Kditor  of  "The  Outlook."  234  pages. 

Tin:  RELATIONS  OF  EDUCATION  TO  CITIZENSHIP.  By  SIMEON  E. 
BALDWIN,  LL.D.,  ex-Governor  of  Connecticut.  178  pages. 

THK  POWER  OF  IDKALS  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY.  By  EPHRAIM 
DOUGLAS  ADAMS,  PH.D.,  Professor  of  History,  Leland  Stan- 
ford Jr.  University.  159  pages. 

'['in.  LIBERTY  OF  CITIZENSHIP.  By  HON.  SAMUEL  WALKER  Mc- 
('  vi.i ,  LL.D.,  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  134  pages. 

THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  CANADA  IN  ITS  HISTORY  AND  PRACTICAL 
WORKING.  By  WILLIAM  RENWICK  RIUDELL,  LL.D.,  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ontario.  170  pages. 

Uniform  /,?mo  cloth  hound  volumes. 


SOCIETY    AND    PRISONS,      liy    THOMAS    MOTT   OBBORNE.    L.H.I). 
(Third  printing.)     8ro.     Cloth  liinding.    240  pages. 


YALE  LECTURES  ON  THE 
RESPONSIBILITIES  OF  CITIZENSHIP 


POLICEMAN  AND  PUBLIC 


Policeman  and  Public 

by 
Arthur  Woods,  A.M. 

Colonel,  Air  Service,  U.  S.  A. 

Formerly  Police  Commissioner  of  New  York  City 

Author  of  '  Crime  Prevention" 


New  Haven :  ^ 

Yale  University  Press. 

I  .on. Inn:  Humphrey  Milford:  Oxford  University  Press. 
Mdccccxix. 


Copyright,  1919,  by 
Yale  University  Press 


Preface 

K) 

A 

The  following  lectures  in  the  Dodge  Course  at  Yale 
University  upon  the  Responsibility  of  Citizenship 
were  delivered  in  April,  1918,  while  we  were  at  war 
with  Germany,  and  before  nation-wide  prohibition 
had  gone  into  effect.  Some  of  the  matters  treated 
may  therefore  seem  out  of  date,  but  the  text  has  been 

/^    left  unchanged,  for  the  principles  are  enduring. 

H  As  the  book  goes  to  press,  the  questions  of  police 
labor  unions  and  strikes  are  much  in  the  public  mind. 
I  cannot  but  feel  that  these  questions  would  never 
have  arisen  if  a  better  and  truer  understanding  had 
i  xisted  between  police  and  public — if  the  public  paid 
its  guardians  proper  salaries,  provided  them  witfy 
single-minded  public  servants  for  leaders,  kept  itself 
informed  as  to  police  methods  and  results,  and 
adopted  means  to  reward  men  who  were  rendering 
commendable  service;  and  if  the  police  had  been  made 
to  realize  that  they  are  entrusted  with  the  proud  duty 
of  maintaining  law  and  order,  that  they.)  serve  the 
whole  people  regardless  of  sect,  politics,  station  in 
life  or  industry. 

This  would  make  intolerable  anv  action  on   their 


8  Policeman  and  Public 

part  that  would  tend  to  commit  them  more  to  the 
service  of  one  part  of  the  community  than  another, 
except  that  of  the  law-abiding  against  the  law- 
defying. 


Contents 

I.  The  Puzzling  Law 11 

II.  The  Policeman  as  Judge    ....  27 

III.  The  People's  Advocate        ....  47 

IV.  Methods  of  Law  Enforcement  ...  55 

V.  Esprit  de  Corps 83 

VI.  Reward  and  Punishment    ....  96 

VII.  Grafting 110 

VIII.  Influence 135 

IX.  Police  Leadership 143 

X.  The  Public's  Part  162 


Policeman  and  Public 
I 

The  Puzzling  Law 

WHAT  is  the  average  man's  conception  of  the 
policeman's   job?      How   does    he   think   the 
guardian  of  law  and  order  spends  his  time? 

Most  people  probably  picture  to  themselves  the 
rather  traditional  officer  that  is  seen  strolling  care- 
free up  and  down  the  street,  with  no  particular  aim, 
swinging  his  club,  good-natured,  yet  with  a  certain 
degree  of  menace.  It  is  known,  of  course,  that  he 
sometimes  makes  an  arrest,  and  once  in  a  while  a 
brave  deed  he  has  done  is  read  of  in  the  paper,  or  an 
allegation  of  graft.  It  is  known,  too,  that  there  are 
detectives,  but  the  general  idea  of  detective  work  and 
methods  is  a  bit  vague,  and  is  apt  to  have  been 
formed  more  from  absorbing  books  or  films  than 
from  the  actual  performances  of  flesh-and-blood  de- 
tectives. An  opinion  commonly  held  about  the  pojice- 
umn,  and  frrrly  r\|>rrsM-<l,  is  that  lu-\  nrvrr  thriv 
when  you  want  him.  That  is  perhaps  the  most  fre- 


12  Policeman  and  Public 

quently  administered  police  bromide.  Another,  for 
children  only,  is  the  bogie  idea.  "If  you  are  not 
good  the  policeman  will  get  you !"  is  a  patent  medi- 
cine used  under  stress  even  in  our  best  families. 

On  the  whole,  however,  people  probably  don't 
think  much  about  policemen  anyway.  They  are 
rather  taken  for  granted,  like  a  lamp-post,  or  a  letter 
box,  or  any  other  feature  of  the  natural  scenery  of  a 
city.  Yet  no  one  hesitates  to  find  fault,  and  every 
one  is  ready  to  believe  anything  bad  about  them,  as 
is  exemplified  by  the  advice  given  a  cub  reporter  once 
by  one  of  the  old-timers  on  the  newspaper.  The 
younger  scribe  was  sitting  at  the  long  writing  table, 
looking  bored  and  disconsolate. 

"What's  wrong,  boy?" 

"Oh,  bored.     There's  nothing  to  do." 

"Nothing  to  do !  Why  don't  you  write  a  story  for 
a  change?" 

"Nothing  to  write." 

"Oh,  go  on.  Now  listen :  when  you've  got  to  write 
about  something,  and  there  isn't  anything  to  write 
about,  just  reel  off  a  story  boosting  the  firemen,  or 
knocking  the  cops.  Both  always  go !" 

The  reasons  for  this  are  probably  not  far  to  seek. 
We  see  the  fireman  gloriously  pounding  down  the 
street  on  his  way  to  save  property,  to  save  lives, — 
that  is  our  picture  of  him,  our  conception  of  his 
duties,  and  naturally  we  "boost"  him.  The  police- 


The  Puzzling  Law  13 

man,  however,  we  don't  see  distinctly  doing  anything 
definite  at  all,  but  we  probably  remember  that  our 
stolen  pocketbook  was  not  recovered  for  us,  that  a 
policeman  rudely  and  absurdly  stopped  us  once  from 
crossing  a  parade  line,  or  upbraided  us  for  not  seeing 
a  traffic  signal  he  didn't  make — we  are  certain  he 
didn't — and  "they  say"  that  policemen  are  so  dis- 
honest. Xo  wonder  we  are  ready  to  read  "knocking" 
stories. 

The  policeman  as  he  is,  few  persons  see  and  know. 
This  is  partly  his  own  fault,  for  he  is  apt  to  be  none 
too  frank  about  what  he's  doing,  and  isn't  likely  to 
open  wide  the  door  to  those  who  come  to  inform 
themselves  as  to  what  manner  of  man  he  is.  It  is  also 
the  fault  of  the  public,  for  they  have  be£n  content 
to  leave  him  as  he  is,  without  bothering  to  find  out 
whether  the  failings  they  see  in  him  are  inherent,  or 
are  curable,  and  theirs  to  cure. 

His  duties  as  laid  down  by  law  arc  important ;  in 
fact,  they  must  be  reasonably  well  performed  or  our 
lives  and  property  are  not  secure;  and,  unlike  the 
duties  of  the  fireman,  they  are  complicated  and  of 
gndless  variety.  The  New  York  City  Charter 
specifies  : 

"Sec.  315.  It  is  hereby  made  the  duty  of  the  police 
department  and  force,  at  all  times  of  day  and  night, 
and  the  members  of  such  force  are  hereby  thereunto 
empowered  to  especially  preserve  the  public  peace, 


14  Policeman  and  Public 

prevent  crime,  detect  and  arrest  offenders,  suppress 
riots,  mobs  and  insurrections,  disperse  unlawful  or 
dangerous  assemblages,  and  assemblages  which  ob- 
struct the  free  passage  of  public  streets,  sidewalks, 
parks  and  places ;  protect  the  rights  of  persons  and 
property,  guard  the  public  health,  preserve  order  at 
elections  and  all  public  meetings  and  assemblages, 
regulate,  direct,  control,  restrict  and  direct  the 
movement  of  all  teams,  horses,  carts,  wagons,  auto- 
mobiles, and  all  other  vehicles  in  streets,  bridges, 
squares,  parks  and  public  places,  for  the  facilitation 
of  traffic  and  the  convenience  of  the  public  as  well  as 
the  proper  protection  of  human  life  and  health,  and 
to  that  end  the  police  commissioner  shall  make  such 
rules  and  regulations  for  the  conduct  of  vehicular 
traffic  in  the  use  of  the  public  streets,  squares  and 
avenues  as  he  may  deem  necessary;  .  .  .  remove  all 
nuisances  in  the  public  streets,  parks  and  highways ; 
arrest  all  street  mendicants  and  beggars ;  provide 
proper  police  attendance  at  fires ;  assist,  advise,  and 
protect  emigrants,  strangers  and  travelers  in  public 
streets,  at  steamboat  and  ship  landings,  and  at  rail- 
road stations ;  carefully  observe  and  inspect  all 
places  of  public  amusement,  all  places  of  business 
having  excise  or  other  licenses  to  carry  on  any  busi- 
ness ;  all  houses  of  ill-fame  or  prostitution,  and 
houses  where  common  prostitutes  resort  or  reside; 
all  lottery  offices,  policy  shops,  and  places  where 


The  Puzzling  Law  15 

lottery  tickets  or  lottery  policies  are  sold  or  offered 
for  sale ;  all  gambling-houses,  cock-pits,  rat-pits,  and 
public  common  dance-houses,  and  to  repress  and 
restrain  all  unlawful  and  disorderly  conduct  or  prac- 
tices therein ;  enforce  and  prevent  the  violation  of  all 
laws  and  ordinances  in  force  in  said  city;  and  for 
these  purposes,  to  arrest  all  persons  guilty  of  violat- 
ing any  law  or  ordinance  for  the  suppression  or 
punishment  of  crimes  or  offenses." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  Section  ends  by  making 
it  clear  to  policemen  that  there  are  no  exceptions, — 
they  are  to  arrest  all  persons  guilty  of  violating  any 
law  or  ordinance  for  the  suppression  of  crimes  or 
offenses. 

-  What  are  these  laws  that  the  policeman  is  charged 
to  enforce?  There  are  plenty  of  them,  and  they 
come  from  all  quarters,  from  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, from  the  State,  from  the  City,  and  theoretically 
each  policeman  should  know  all  of  them,  so  as  to  be 
able  to  enforce  all. 

It  is  essential  for  the  public  weal,  for  instance, 
that  the  police  should  be  thoroughly  familiar  with 
the  Federal  Immigration  law,  knowing  just  what 
classes  are  forbidden  entry  into  the  country,  and 
just  what  is  necessary  in  order  to  put  them  out 
again,  in  case  they  have  slipped  in  among  us  in  spite 
of  the  law.  Black  Hand  crime,  as  an  example,  which 
was  so  rife  in  New  York  only  a  few  years  ago,  was 


16  Policeman  and  Public 

the  work  in  most  cases  of  Italian  convicts  who  had 
criminal  records  at  home,  and  therefore  were  in  the 
United  States  in  defiance  of  our  laws.  When  this 
state  of  affairs  was  found  out,  police  methods 
changed  and  the  Black  Hander  fared  ill.  Instead  of 
waiting  for  crimes  to  be  committed,  and  then  labori- 
ously trying  to  catch  the  perpetrators,  the  police  got 
the  certified  criminal  records,  from  Italy,  of  Italian 
criminals  in  this  country,  worked  up  each  case  so  as 
to  prove  that  the  man  in  question  was  the  one  de- 
scribed by  the  certificate,  and  that  he  had  been  less 
than  three  years  in  the  country, — and  then  showed 
him  the  way  home. 

Other  Federal  laws  which  the  police,  especially 
nowadays,  must  know  are  the  laws  covering  dis- 
loyalty, and  they  are  pretty  hard  even  for  some 
lawyers  to  understand.  The  constitution  provides : 

Art.  III.  Sec.  3.  "1.  Treason  against  the  United 
States  shall  consist  only  in  levying  war  against  them 
or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and 
comfort.  No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason 
unless  on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the  same 
overt  act  or  on  confession  in  open  court." 

It  was  therefore  held  in  1861  that  oral  words  do 
not  constitute  treason,  for  there  is  no  overt  act. 
The  law  does  not  punish  a  man  for  his  treasonable 
thoughts  or  words  unless  they  are  translated  into 
action.  If  his  words  are  only  expressions  of  his 


The  Puzzling  Law  17 

thoughts  they  cannot  be  treated  as  overt  acts.  Ac- 
cording to  the  law  it  is  not  treason  in  this  country 
to  desire  the  success  of  Germany  or  even  to  state 
that  one  desires  it.  To  commit  treason  one  must  do 
something.  But  if  the  words  are  printed,  certainly, 
or  perhaps  even  spoken,  not  as  an  expression  of  a 
man's  own  opinion  but  as  a  means  to  effect  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy,  then 
they  are  treasonable. 

Thus,  in  a  case  recently  on  trial  in  Philadelphia, 
editors  of  a  newspaper  were  indicted,  not  for  print- 
ing news  items,  but  for  so  characterizing  them  as  to 
give  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy.  Thus,  a  German 
victory  was  called  "A  Brilliant  Victory,"  and  a  re- 
verse "A  Bad  Setback."  The  news  of  a  good  harvest 
in  Germany  was  called  "A  Joyous  Message  from  the 
German  Empire" ;  a  message  from  Admiral  Sims  was 
designated  "high-flown  words."  The  announcement 
that  the  Administration  proposed  to  build  35,000 
airships  was  headed  "Really  Too  Funny";  news 
about  recruiting  was  headed  "Failure  of  Recruit- 
ing." The  Court  held  that  if  all  this  could  be  proved 
it  indicated,  not  that  the  newspaper  way  printing 
legitimate  news,  but  that  it  was  engaged  in  a  course 
of  conduct  which  would  "give  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
enemy." 

If  one  says,  "Germany  deserves  to  win  the  war 
and  I  hope  she  does,"  it  is  not  treason  under  the  law 


18  Policeman  and  Public 

if  these  words  are  simply  expressions  of  one's 
thought.  But  if  one  prints  a  series  of  headings  over 
actual  news  articles  with  the  intent  to  give  aid  and 
comfort  to  the  enemy  it  is  treason.  The  distinction 
is  real,  but  the  average  patrolman  might  be  sorely 
puzzled  as  to  just  where  to  draw  the  line  in  a  nice 
case,  especially  if  it  takes  place  in  the  hurly-burly  of 
a  turbulent  gathering. 

Again,  the  police,  if  they  are  going  to  meet  fully 
their  wartime  responsibilities,  must  be  qualified  to 
assist  the  Federal  Government  in  the  enforcement  of 
the  Espionage  Act,  which  became  a  law  June  15, 
1917.  Section  3  reads  as  follows : 

"Whoever  when  the  United  States  is  at  war  shall 
wilfully  make  or  convey  false  reports  or  false  state- 
ments with  intent  to  interfere  with  the  operation  or 
success  of  the  military  or  naval  forces  of  the  United 
States  or  to  promote  the  success  of  its  enemies,  and 
whoever  when  the  United  States  is  at  war  shall  wil- 
fully cause  or  attempt  to  cause  insubordination,  dis- 
loyalty, mutiny  or  refusal  of  duty  in  the  military  or 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States  or  shall  wilfully 
obstruct  the  recruiting  or  enlistment  service  of  the 
United  States  to  the  injury  of  the  service  or  of  the 
United  States  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more 
than  $10,000  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  20 
years,  or  both." 


The  Puzzling  Law  19 

The  Section  can  be  divided  roughly  into  three 
parts,  making  it  criminal  for  anyone : 

1.  To    interfere    by    false    statements    with    the 
operation  or  success  of  our  forces. 

2.  To  cause,  or  attempt  to  cause,  insubordina- 
tion, disloyalty,  refusal  of  duty  in  our  forces. 

3.  To  obstruct  wilfully  the  recruiting  or  enlist- 
ment service. 

The  policeman  must  know  this,  and  must  clearly 
realize,  for  instance,  that  whereas  an  attempt  to 
cause  disloyalty  in  our  forces  is  a  crime,  yet  it  is  not 
a  crime  to  attempt  to  interfere  with  recruiting  unless 
the  attempt  be  successful.  A  case  occurred  out 
West  where  a  man  was  reported  to  have  made  re- 
marks something  as  follows: 

"If  I  were  you  I  would  not  go  down  to  be  examined 
for  service.  They  cannot  do  anything  if  you  would 
not  go." 

"Our  country  is  ruled  by  the  British  Crown. 
President  Wilson  is  a  Britisher.  Hoover  is  nothing 
but  a  Britisher.  I  would  rather  see  my  children  led 
out  and  shot  than  to  see  them  burdened  by  a  bond 
issue." 

"You  are  fools  to  appear  for  the  draft.  If  I  were 
you  I  would  not  appear  and  would  not  go.  Any  man 
who  is  a  loyal  American  citizen  will  not  buy  a  Liberty 
bond." 


20  Policeman  and  Public 

"If  the  young  men  would  follow  my  advice  .  .  . 
and  stand  on  their  constitutional  rights,  they  could 
not  be  forced  to  go  abroad  to  fight  for  this  country. 
I  would  advise  the  young  men  to  resist  the  draft  for 
foreign  service." 

Officers  of  the  law  were  called  on,  and  they  took 
the  man  into  custody,  charging  him  with  violation  of 
Section  3  of  the  Espionage  Act.  Now,  the  prosecu- 
tion could  not  be  under  the  third  part  of  the  Section, 
since  there  was  no  evidence  that  he  had  succeeded  in 
obstructing  enlistment  or  recruiting.  It  had  to  be 
under  the  second  part,  and  then  the  jury  had  to 
decide  whether  the  attempt  proved  was  an  attempt 
to  cause  disloyalty  or  refusal  of  duty  in  our  forces. 

In  these  days,  policemen  may  at  any  time  have  to 
make  quick  decisions  as  to  whether  arrests  should  be 
made  in  difficult  border-line  cases  involving  disloyalty 
or  treason  to  our  country,  so  they  must  know  these 
Federal  laws,  and  know  them  so  well  that  they  can 
act  before  it  is  too  late. 

Besides  the  Federal  laws,  the  police  force  must 
know  the  laws  of  the  State.  These  include  the  whole 
Penal  Code.  It  must  know  intimately,  for  the  com- 
munity relies  on  it  to  enforce  them,  all  the  laws  telling 
what  people  must  not  do,  ranging  from  murder,  with 
the  death  penalty  as  its  consequence,  down  through 
a  despairing  list  of  wicked  things,  to,  let  us  say, 
driving  an  automobile  in  the  evening  with  the  tail 


The  Puzzling  Law  21 

light  not  shining  brightly  enough,  or  fastened  on  at 
such  an  angle  as  not  to  illuminate  the  license  number 
according  to  law. 

A  policeman  need  never  have  any  doubt  as  to 
some  state-made  laws :  if  he  sees  a  ruffian  crack  a 
peaceable  citizen  on  the  head  with  a  blackjack  and 
then  go  through  his  pockets,  he  knows  some  section 
of  the  Penal  Code  has  been  violated;  he  may  not 
remember  its  number,  or  its  exact  terms,  but  he 
knows  he  should  lay  hold  of  that  rough  and  convey 
him  to  the  station  house. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  will  often  be  puzzled  by 
things  that  happen.  For  example,  he  will  not  infre- 
quently find  difficulty  in  determining  what  constitutes 
a  "breach  of  the  peace."  The  statute  passed  by  the 
State  legislature,  but  applying  only  to  New  York 
City,  reads: 

"Whenever  it  shall  appear,  on  oath  of  a  credible 
witness  before  any  police  justice  in  said  city  and 
county,  that  any  person  in  said  city  and  county  has 
been  guilty  of  any  such  disorderly  conduct  as  in  the 
opinion  of  such  magistrate  tends  to  a  breach  of  the 
peace,  the  said  magistrate  may  cause  the  person  so 
complained  of  to  be  brought  before  him  to  answer 
the  said  charge." 

Another  provision  applying  only  to  public  places 
makes  it  disorderly  conduct  to  "use  any  threatening, 
abusive  or  insulting  behavior  with  intent  to  provoke 


22  Policeman  and  Public 

a  breach  of  the  peace  or  whereby  a  breach  of  the 
peace  may  be  occasioned." 

Under  this  statute  a  policeman  must  take  action 
when  he  finds  anyone  guilty  of  conduct  which  "tends 
to,  or  may  bring  about,  a  breach  of  the  peace."  It 
is  very  largely  a  relative  matter.  Thus  one  court 
held  that  insulting  language  used  by  a  prisoner  to 
a  policeman  while  he  was  being  led  to  the  station 
house,  did  not  come  within  the  statute  for  the  reason 
that  the  policeman  was  in  duty  bound  to  preserve 
the  peace,  and  therefore  nothing  that  might  have 
been  said  to  him  by  the  prisoner  could  have  tended 
to  bring  about  a  breach  of  it !  Again,  if  a  speaker 
in  a  hall  with  a  thoroughly  pro-German  audience 
says,  "Germany  must  and  will  win  the  war;  besides, 
she  ought  to  win  it,"  these  remarks,  provocative 
though  they  would  be  to  any  American  audience, 
would  not  come  within  the  statute,  since  if  every  one 
present  agreed  with  the  views  expressed  they  would 
not  "tend  to  a  breach  of  the  peace."  The  same  re- 
marks, however,  or  far  less  bold  remarks  spoken  on 
a  street  corner  with  a  few  real  Americans  in  the 
audience  would  most  certainly  tend  toward  several 
breaches  of  the  peace,  would  come  within  the  statute 
and  land  the  offender  summarily  inside  a  jail. 

But  the  police  must  not  limit  themselves  to  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  all  the  niceties  of  Federal  and 
State  laws ;  many  offenses  committed  in  their  pres- 


The  Puzzling  Law  23 

ence  are  against  city  ordinances,  of  which  they  must 
also  be  thoroughly  cognizant.  The  number  of  these 
ordinances  seems  legion.  To  illustrate:  the  police 
must  know  that  a  permit  from  the  City  Clerk  is  re- 
quired for  the  display  of  an  electric  sign,  which  must 
be  ten  feet  in  the  clear  above  the  level  of  the  sidewalk 
and  must  not  project  more  than  eight  feet  from  the 
building  line;  that  the  Board  of  Aldermen  issues 
licenses  for  driving  advertising  wagons  through  the 
street;  and  only  the  Police  Commissioner  has  the 
power  to  issue  licenses  for  holding  religious  street 
meetings,  for  masquerade  balls,  for  parades,  for 
boarding-house  runners,  stationary  engineers  and 
firemen.  The  New  York  City  ordinances  forbid : 
bathing  in  a  public  place  without  being  decently  at- 
tired ;  throwing  any  fruit  or  vegetable  skins  or  other 
slippery  substance  on  the  sidewalk;  using  salt  to 
dissolve  snow  or  ice  on  the  sidewalk ;  offering  for  sale 
theatre  tickets  in  the  street ;  offering  for  sale  bean 
shooters  or  using  them  in  a  public  place;  trick  riding, 
or  carrying  a  child  under  five  years  of  age  on  a 
bicycle  in  a  public  street.  The  police  must  have 
readily  available  the  knowledge  that  a  permit  from 
the  Board  of  Health  is  required  for  keeping  cows  or 
live  pigeons  or  chickens,  geese  or  ducks;  for  main- 
taining a  shelter  for  homeless  animals;  for  keeping 
a  lodging-house;  for  erecting  a  tent ;  for  maintaining 
a  houseboat;  for  selling  milk;  for  using  well  water  in 


24  Policeman  and  Public 

the  Borough  of  Manhattan ;  for  manufacturing  min- 
eral waters;  for  selling  oysters.  They  must  know 
that  the  Sanitary  Code  forbids  the  using  of  a  bath- 
room as  a  sleeping  place;  the  supplying  for  public 
use  of  common  drinking  cups,  free  lunch  forks  or 
common  roller  towels ;  the  placing  of  a  dead  horse  in 
the  street  without  attaching  a  tag  bearing  the  owner's 
name;  the  sieving  or  exposing  of  ashes,  coal,  dry 
sand,  hair,  feathers  or  other  substance  likely  to  be 
blown  about  by  the  wind,  or  to  shake  any  mat,  car- 
pet, rug  or  cloth  where  particles  of  dust  would  pass 
into  a  street  or  public  place.  And  they  must  know 
that  the  Sanitary  Code  requires  us  all  to.  keep  suffi- 
cient water-tight  receptacles  to  contain  the  ashes  and 
garbage  which  may  accumulate  within  thirty-six 
hours  and  not  to  permit  such  receptacles  to  be  filled 
higher  than  within  four  inches  of  the  top.  We  must 
keep  our  ashes  and  garbage  separately;  we  must 
keep  the  garbage  cans  covered;  we  must  remove  the 
receptacles  when  they  have  been  emptied. 

These  are  only  instances  of  ordinances,  which  are 
quoted  so  that  the  reader  may  gain  an  idea  of  the 
range  of  police  knowledge  required.  We  have  not 
touched  at  all  upon  the  various  requirements  for  fire 
prevention  and  the  storage  and  care  of  explosives,  or 
the  ordinances  affecting  tenement  houses,  or  those 
regulating  the  work  of  the  Departments  of  Water 
Supply  Gas  and  Electricity,  of  Parks,  of  Docks  and 


The  Puzzling  Law  25 

Ferries,  of  Education,  of  Public  Charities,  of  Cor- 
rection, of  Bridges,  of  the  various  Borough  bureaus : 
highways,  sewers,  buildings  and  encumbrances. 

Nation,  state  and  city  authorities  seem  to  the 
policeman  to  vie  with  each  other  to  regulate  our 
comings  and  goings ;  to  specify  what  we  may  do  and 
what  we  shall  not  do;  to  tell  us  exactly  how  and 
when  we  may  do  the  few  things  that  are  permitted, 
and  then  the  whole  thing  is  dumped  bodily  on  him 
and  he  is  burdened  with  the  somber  duty  of  making 
each  one  of  us  obey  to  the  letter  every  one  of  all  these 
multifarious  laws. 

Now,  probably  no  single  mind  contains,  or  could> 
successfully  retain,  all  this  knowledge  of  law  and 
have  it  automatically  available  for  application  to 
particular,  puzzling  cases  as  they  occur.  At  any 
rate,  it  is  not  conceivable  that  all  policemen  should 
have  such  vast  legal  knowledge,  though  many  of 
them  are  extraordinarily  well  versed  in  law,  and  wise 
and  prompt  in  applying  their  knowledge. 

Hence  the  need  for  capable  police  leadership. 

The  policeman  on  post,  at  $1400  or  $1500  a  year, 
cannot  be  a  sort  of  muscular  combination  of  Black- 
stone  and  Sherlock  Holmes.  He  must  be  taught  and 
trained.  His  compHe»tg*l  ^»]*"ft  TTTMfft  be  simplified 
forjiim  bv  the  clear  and  patient  instructions  of  his 
Igadergj  for  capable  leadership  can  make  easy  the 
difficult,  can  clear  up  the  obscure,  and  can  make 


26  Policeman  and  Public 

each  individual  policeman  an  effective  member  of  the 
force  by  continual  inst^^^^^and  by  limiting  his 
duties  according  to  his  capacity. 

The  time-worn  professional  police  theory  thai 
everyone  in  the  uniform  knows  aLLaboutJbhe^iob^and 
only  needs  to  be  let  alone  by  bosses  andpublicj_has 
been  responsible  for  most  of  our  weak,  and  much  of 
our  dishonest,  police  service. 


II 

The  Policeman  as  Judge 

TN  this  duty  of  law  enforcement  the  policeman  is 
_in  a  very  real  sense  a  judge. ___  He  has  to  decide 
whether  or  not  a  law  is  violated  and  therefore  whether 
he  should  take  official  action.    This  is  about  the  same 


duty  that  a  judge  is  charged  with,  but  the  conditions 
under  which  the  two  work,  judge  and  policeman, 
seem  about  as  different  as  their  salaries.  The  judge 
sits  on  his  bench  in  a  quiet  room  with  court  officers 
scattered  around  to  make  his  work  easy,  to  run 
errands  for  him,  to  ensure  quiet  and  decorum.  He 
has  clerks  and  stenographers.  He  has  libraries  of 
law  books,  with  messengers  to  go  and  get  them  for 
him  and  clerks  to  assist  him  in  looking  up  the  authori- 
ties. He  can  take  the  time  he  requires  to  consult 
musty  tomes  athis  leisure  and  as  many  of  them  as 
he  thinks  fit,  before  he  has  to  give  his  decision.  And 
if  he  make  a  mistake,  if  his  decision  be  wrong,  the 
only  penalty  he  incurs  is  the  chagrin  he  may  feel  at 
being  reversed  by  the  superior  court. 

Compare  the  poor  policeman.     He  is  alone  on_a 
street  corner:  things  am  h^ppjpning  all  around  him ; 


28  Policeman  and  Public 

an  excited  crowd  is  gathering;  people  are  talking 
loud  and  perhaps  fisticuffing;  all  is  confusion.  He 
must  decide  instantly  and  take  immediate  action,  for 
delay  may  mean  an  irremediable  error;  a  life  may 
be  indirectly  at  stake.  All  the  policeman's  knowl- 
edge  of  all  the  laws  jnust  be  on  automatic  tap  ready 
to  be  applied  unerringly  upon  an  instant's  notice. 
And  if  he  make  a  mistake, — woe  betide  him,  for  he 
is  between  the  devil  and  the  deep  blue  sea :  if  he  takes 
a  person  into  custody  wrongfully  he  subjects  him- 
self to  a  personal  suit  for  civil  damages,  yet  if  he 
fails  to  take  the  person  into  custody  he  may  render 
himself  liable  to  departmental  discipline  and  perhaps 
dismissal  for  having  failed  to  take  proper  police 
action.  The  odds  are  all  against  him,  and  all  with 
the  judge,  yet  we  seldom  criticise  judges  if  they  make 
honest  errors,  and  we  seldom  fail  to  criticise  police- 
men when  they  make  much  the  same  kind  of  error. 

It  is  interesting  to  realize  that  only  in  free  coun- 
tries is  the  public  protected  against  this  sort  of 
official  misconduct,  against  the  overstepping  of  its 
rights  by  police  officers.  In  Germany  the  policeman  is 
not  liable  to  a  citizen  whom  he  wrongfully  arrests. 
In  the  United  States  the  policeman  is  protected  only 
in  the  exercise  of  his  legal  duties.  In  the  confusion 
of  the  scene  or  because  of  the  puzzle  of  the  point  at 
issue  a  policeman  may  easily  overstep  his  rights 
under  the  law,  yet  if  he  does  so  even  by  the  fraction 


The  Policeman  as  Judge  29 

of  an  inch,  "even  in  the  estimation  of  a  hair,"  he  at 
once  loses  his  immunity,  becomes  a  plain  ordinary 
citizen  like  the  rest  of  us  and  is  personally  liable 
under  either  criminal  or  civil  action  like  any  other 
civilian.  The  law  permits  him,  for  instance,  to  use 
force,  and  all  the  force  that  is  necessary  in  order  to 
perform  his  legal  duty*  but  he  must  be  able  to  demon- 
strate that  it  actually  was  his  duty,  that  force  was 
needed,  and  that  he  did  not  use  one  ounce  more  than 
was  absolutely  necessary.  A  policeman  is  therefore 
apt  to  be  cautious  and  to  refrain  from  taking  action 
if  there  is  doubt. 

And  there  is  often  doubt.  What  should  he  do 
when  he  walks  through  the  heart  of  the  tenement 
district  of  the  city  on  a  sweltering  August  night  and 
sees  a  pale,  driven  mother  sleeping  on  a  fire  escape 
with  her  five  children,  trying  to  get  a  trace  of  a 
breath  of  fresh  air  which  they  could  not  find  in  their 
stuffy  room?  The  law  forbids  this  use  of  fire 
escapes ;  but  the  policeman  will  hardly  have  the 
heart  to  enforce  the  law  by  driving  these  unfortunate 
people  into  agony  again.  What  is  his  "duty"? 

Picture  to  yourself  another  case.  There  is  a  huge 
political  meeting  in  Madison  Square  Garden.  The 
seating  capacity  inside  is  8500,  and  the  hall  has  been 
filled,  seating  and  standing  capacity  both,  for  an 
hour,  yet  the  crowds  outside  are  surging  toward  the 
entrance  through  every  street  that  leads  to  the  Gar- 


30  Policeman  and  Public 

den.  Patrolman  Gilligan  is  doing  his  best  at  his 
appointed  station  to  keep  back  the  crowd;  though 
they  are  pressing  him  sorely  he  is  trying  hard  to 
hold  them,  to  keep  himself  and  them  good-natured, 
to  avoid  using  force — yet  he  must  keep  them  back. 

As 'they  crowd  up  against  him  once  again  and  he 
raises  his  arms  to  stay  them,  his  elbow  strikes  the 
eye  of  an  infirm  gentleman  in  the  front  rank,  some 
sixty-five  years  old,  and  Gilligan  calls  out :  "Don't 
you  know  enough  to  back  up  there?  I'll  lock  up 
somebody  in  this  bunch  if  you  don't  look  out !" 

"You  don't  need  to  hit  me  in  the  eye !"  someone 
answers. 

"Sorry,  sir,  I'm  sure,  but — here  there,  you  back 
there,  quit  your  shoving  now!" 

Not  long  after  this  incident  the  crowd  begins  to 
thin  out,  as  people  see  at  last  that  there's  no  hope 
of  entering  the  Garden.  Gilligan  manages  to  main- 
tain his  part  of  the  lines,  and  dog-tired  goes  off 
duty  just  before  midnight. 

A  few  days  later  Gilligan  comes  home  from  the 
dreary  "late  tour,"  from  midnight  to  eight  o'clock. 
His  wife  has  a  hot  breakfast  waiting  for  him  and  is 
standing  out  on  the  doorstep  with  the  two  little 
Gilligans  waving  a  welcome  to  him,  the  little  ones 
jumping  up  and  down  and  clapping  their  hands,  they 
are  so  glad  to  see  father  again.  As  he  comes  up  to 
the  doorstep  a  man  walks  up  to  him:  "Are  you 


The  Policeman  as  Judge  31 

Officer  Patrick  Gilligan?"  and  shoves  a  paper  into 
his  hand.    This  is  what  he  reads : 

Supreme  Court, 

County  and  State  of  New  York. 
John    Lovejoy,    Plaintiff,    vs.    Patrick    Gilligan, 
Defendant. 

1.  The  above-named  plaintiff  is  and  was  at  all 
times  hereinafter  mentioned  a  citizen  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  residing  in  the  County  of  New  York. 

2.  On  or  about  the  17th  day  of  October,  1917, 
the  defendant  did  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Twenty- 
fifth  Street  and  Madison  Avenue,  in  the  county  of 
New  York  aforesaid,  maliciously,  wilfully  and  unlaw- 
fully   assault    the   plaintiff,    thereby    causing    great 
physical  injury  to  the  plaintiff. 

3.  The   defendant   did,   at   the   time   and   place 
aforementioned,  threaten,  abuse  and  vilify  this  plain- 
tiff, thereby  causing  plaintiff  to  be  grossly  humiliated 
and  to  suffer  great  mental  anguish  to  the  plaintiff's 
damage. 

4.  The  plaintiff  annexes  hereto  a  bill  of  particu- 
lars which  he  makes  a  part  of  this  complaint. 

Wherefore  the  plaintiff  asks  for  judgment  against 
the  defendant  in  the  sum  of  Twenty-five  Thousand 
Dollars  and  further  asks  that  he  be  awarded  his  costs 
and  disbursements  in  the  action. 

KETCHUM  &  CHEATHAM, 

Plaintiff's  Attorneys. 


32  Policeman  and  Public 

Gilligan's  breakfast  is  not  apt  to  be  eaten  with  a 
very  keen  relish.  By  his  savings  and  through  the 
economies  and  thrifty  management  of  his  wife  he 
has  managed  to  make  his  last  payment  on  the  $4000 
he  spent  for  his  home,  and  he  has  $300  in  the  savings 
bank.  He  does  not  remember  the  political  meeting 
episode,  and  has  not  the  slightest  idea  of  what  the 
paper  refers  to,  onjy  he  knows  that  he  has  not 
assaulted  anyone  or  vilified  anyone.  Yet  there  he  is, 
faced  with  the  prospects  of  having  to  give  up  all  his 
earnings. 

Another  policeman  is  patrolling  placidly  down 
Broadway,  swinging  his  club  gently,  counting  the 
time  till  he  will  be  relieved.  All  at  once  two  angry, 
gesticulating  men  come  out  of  the  door  of  a  hotel 
bar  in  front  of  him.  They  see  him. 

"Arrest  that  man !"  shouts  one.  "He  swindled  me 
out  of  a  thousand  dollars  and  I'd  had  a  hard  enough 
job  to  save  it.  He  told  me  he  had  a  gold  mine, 
showed  me  some  of  the  gold,  showed  me  pictures 
of  it,  told  me  all  about  the  fortune  shareholders 
would  make.  And  there's  nothing  to  it.  He's  a 
plain  swindler.  I've  never  had  a  dollar  of  dividends 
and  they  tell  me  the  stock  isn't  worth  the  paper  it's 
printed  on.  Arrest  him,  officer!  I'll  teach  him  a 
thing  or  two  and  make  him  pay  for  that  thousand." 

To  which  the  second  man  rather  calmly  rejoins: 
"Officer,  arrest  me  if  you  dare.  He  bought  securi- 


The  Policeman  as  Judge  33 

ties  of  me  for  a  thousand  dollars,  yes,  but  he  has  got 
the  securities.  The  gold  I  showed  him  came  from 
the  mine,  the  photographs  were  taken  of  the  mine, 
and  it  is  not  up  to  me  if  he  has  not  got  any  dividends 
yet." 

Now,  what  is  the  policeman  to  do?  If  the  gold  did 
come  from  the  mine  and  if  the  photographs  were  of 
the  mine  buildings,  even  though  they  were  poor 
shanties,  it  would  be  likely  that  no  law  had  been 
violated,  for  false  promises  do  not  constitute  viola- 
tion, though  false  representations  of  existing  facts 
do.  If  the  policeman  makes  an  arrest,  he  may  simply 
be  exposing  himself  to  a  civil  suit ;  if  he  fails  to  make 
an  arrest  and  refers  the  aggrieved  one  to  a  magis- 
trate for  a  warrant,  he  may  be  letting  a  contemptible 
swindler  go  scot-free. 

A  few  hours  later  on  the  other  side  of  the  street 
two  more  excited  men  may  come  out  of  a  hotel 
entrance,  one,  the  hotel  clerk,  demanding  that  the 
officer  arrest  the  other.  "If  you  don't  arrest  him 
I  will  see  the  Commissioner  and  have  your  shield  taken 
away.  This  man  tried  to  beat  the  hotel  out  of  his 
bill,  he  tried  to  slip  over  a  phony  check  on  me." 

"If  you  arrest  me,"  answers  the  other,  "I  will  sue 
you  and  stay  with  it  till  I've  got  your  year's  salary. 
There  was  nothing  phony  about  that  check.  I  just 
happened  to  let  my  account  get  overdrawn  for  a  day 
or  two." 


34  Policeman  and  Public 

Again,  what  is  the  policeman  to  do?  If  the  man 
never  had  an  account  in  the  bank  he  would  be  guilty 
of  larceny;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  he  had  had  an 
account  and  simply  overdrew  it,  he  would  be  guilty 
only  of  carelessness.  But  the  policeman  has  no  time 
to  make  an  examination  at  the  bank.  He  has  to 
decide  right  then  and  there  whether  or  not  he  will 
make  the  arrest. 

One  of  the  hardest  things  a  policeman  must  decide 
on  the  spot  is  whether  a  misdemeanor  or  a  felony 
has  been  committed.  If  a  felony,  he  has  the  right 
to  make  an  arrest  without  a  warrant,  if  he  has  rea- 
sonable grounds  to  believe  that  the  man  he  arrests 
committed  the  act ;  if  a  misdemeanor,  he  has  no  right 
to  arrest,  unless  he  witnessed  the  occurrence. 

Thus,  if  a  policeman  sees  a  woman  with  a  bleeding 
face  shrieking  down  the  street  after  a  man  who,  she 
cries  out,  has  struck  her,  he  has  the  right  to  make 
an  arrest  if  the  man  hit  her  with  a  dangerous  weapon, 
but  not  if  he  hit  her  with  his  fist.  An  umbrella  or  a 
cane,  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  would  qualify  as  a  dan- 
gerous weapon.  And  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
mere  stopping  of  the  man  would  be  technically  false 
imprisonment.  Unless  he  is  willing  to  take  the  risk 
of  being  able  to  prove  later  that  a  weapon  was  used, 
he  arrests  at  his  peril,  for  if  it  was  what  is  called 
a  "simple  assault,"  he  legally  has  no  right  to  take 
action  more  drastic  than  suggesting  to  the  mal- 


The  Policeman  as  Judge  35 

treated  woman  that  she  apply  to  a  magistrate  for 
a  warrant,  or  informing  her  that  she  has  the  power 
of  arrest,  and  assuring  her  that  if  she  exercises  it 
he  will  preserve  the  peace. 

The  inevitable  result  of  this  sort  of  thing  is  that 
the  policeman  learns  by  experience  and  by  the  wise 
advice  of  his  elders  that  his  best  course  is  to  play 
safe,  to  keep  out  of  trouble,  to  think  before  he  acts, 
and  think  especially  how  any  action  he  might  take 
would  affect  him  personally.  He  can  never  afford 
to  lose  sight  of  either  penalty,  the  chance  of  being 
taken  to  court  on  either  a  civil  or  criminal  charge, 
and  the  danger  of  being  put  on  charges  before  the 
trial  Deputy  Commissioner  of  the  Department.  He 
may  dodge  Scylla  only  to  be  sucked  into  Charybdis. 
And  the  discipline  of  the  Department  is  no  joke;  if 
he  is  dismissed  from  the  Force  he  loses  not  only  his 
job,  but  all  his  accumulated  rights  to  a  pension;  and 
a  good  bit  of  his  savings  probably  goes  to  pay  the 
legal  expenses  of  his  trial.  The  mistakes  that  get  a 
policeman  into  trouble  are  usually  those  of  action. 
The  temptation  is  therefore  to  do  nothing,  to  see 
nothing,  not  to  be  there;  and  if  there  by  some  un- 
happy chance,  to  look  the  other  way,  to  step  around 
the  corner. 

A  young  policeman  one  night,  very  late,  was 
patrolling  his  post  not  far  from  the  Pennsylvania 
railroad  station.  There  were  not  many  people 


36  Policeman  and  Public 

around.  This  policeman  was  rather  new  in  the  pro- 
fession, having  been  graduated  from  the  Training 
School  only  a  few  months,  and  being  still  full  of 
the  excellent  instruction  he  received  there.  A  rather 
unusual  number  of  night  burglaries  had  been  occur- 
ring in  the  precinct,  and  the  captain  had  warned  all 
sergeants  and  patrolmen  to  be  particularly  on  the 
alert  for  suspicious-looking  characters.  The  patrol- 
man had  been  taught  in  the  school  that  during  the 
small  hours  of  the  morning  if  a  man  came  along  the 
post  carrying  a  bundle,  it  was  good  police  work 
tactfully  but  firmly  to  insist  upon  being  shown  the 
contents  of  the  bundle,  for  burglars  must  carry  away 
their  loot  somehow  or  it  is  of  no  use  to  them;  and 
men  with  bundles  on  lonely  posts,  at  lonely  hours, 
might  be  burglars. 

A  man  who,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  would 
have  excited  no  one's  suspicion,  came  along  this  offi- 
cer's post  carrying  a  rather  large  and  pretty  well 
stuffed-out  dress-suit  case. 

The  policeman  eyed  him  for  a  few  moments,  and 
then  stepped  up  to  him :  "I  am  sorry,  sir,  but  I  must 
ask  you  to  let  me  see  what  you  have  in  that  bag." 

"I  shall  do  nothing  of  the  kind ;  it  is  none  of  your 
business." 

"I  am  very  sorry,  sir,"  replied  the  young  officer; 
"my  instructions  are  that  I  must  investigate  any  bag 
or  bundle  that  is  carried  along  the  street  at  this  time 


The  Policeman  as  Judge  37 

of  night.  I  hope  you  won't  be  offended ;  I  am  pretty 
sure  you're  all  right.  Won't  you  be  a  good  fellow 
and  help  me  out  by  just  letting  me  take  a  look  in  the 
bag?  Or  else  I  might  get  into  all  sorts  of  trouble 
with  the  boss  for  not  doing  what  he  told  me." 

Somewhat  mollified  by  the  patrolman's  address, 
the  man  asked:  "What  is  all  this  about,  officer; 
what's  the  game?" 

"Well,  there  have  been  a  few  burglaries  in  this 
precinct  lately,  and  the  captain's  red-hot  to  stop 
'em;  so  he  has  told  all  of  us  to  keep  an  extra  eye 
out  for  people  carrying  bundles  at  unusual  hours. 
It  is  no  crime  to  carry  bundles  through  the  street, 
and  I  don't  wonder  that  you're  sore  at  being  held 
up  like  this  just  when  you  are  probably  hurrying 
home  to  get  some  sleep.  It  is  a  tough  job,  the  cop's 
job;  he  has  to  do  all  sorts  of  things  that  get  him  in 
wrong  with  people." 

By  this  time  the  man  had  his  dress-suit  case  open, 
and  the  officer  satisfied  himself  by  a  couple  of  glances 
that  no  spoils  of  burglary  were  in  it.  They  said 
good-night  to  each  other  and  the  man  went  along. 
The  patrolman  forgot  the  incident. 

A  couple  of  days  later,  however,  a  letter  came  to 
the  Police  Commissioner  from  the  employer  of  the 
man  in  question,  who  was  the  president  of  a  large 
company.  The  letter  said  that  a  young  man  in  the 
employ  of  the  company,  thoroughly  respectable, 


38  Policeman  and  Public 

completely  trusted,  well  mannered  and  of  good  hab- 
its, had  been  brusquely  accosted  by  an  officer  two 
nights  before  on  his  way  home  from  a  business  trip 
out  of  town.  In  spite  of  his  protests  the  officer  had 
insisted  upon  examining  the  contents  of  his  bag. 
Such  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  policeman  was 
wholly  without  warrant  of  law,  was  unjustifiable,  and 
was  the  kind  of  conduct  which  can  not  be  tolerated 
in  public  officials.  An  immediate  investigation  was 
demanded,  with  proper  disciplinary  measures  against 
the  officer.  The  writer  of  the  letter  announced  that 
he  was  not  going  to  be  put  off  in  this  matter;  that 
he  proposed  to  see  it  through,  and,  if  the  police 
authorities  did  not  take  action  that  seemed  to  him 
adequate,  he  would  go  higher. 

No  harm  came  to  the  policeman  in  this  case.  The 
risk  he  ran,  however,  was  great,  for,  in  trying  to  do 
his  duty,  he  exposed  himself  to  the  resentment  of  a 
man  who  proved  to  be  possessed  of  influence  and  who 
was  thoroughly  capable  of  driving  a  matter  to  a 
finish. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  policeman  gradually 
comes  to  conclude  that  no  action  is  probably  the 
safest  action?  It  is  clear  that,  under  such  condi- 
tions, the  policeman  cannot  be  the  clear-headed, 
impartial  judge  which  the  best  interests  of  his  work 
demand.  The  effect  on  him  in  his  performance  of 
duty  of  this  play  of  forces  is  apt  to  work  unfavor- 


The  Policeman  as  Judge  39 

ably  to  the  public  interest,  for,  although  at  first 
thought  it  might  appear  that  police  action  would  be 
influenced  in  the  right  direction,  and  that  the  caution 
bred  in  him  in  this  way  would  merely  prevent  him 
from  making  unnecessary  arrests,  such  an  impres- 
sion is  not  true,  for  the  making  of  arrests  is  only 
one  part  of  police  duty,  and  there  is  no  virtue,  either 
in  the  mere  making  of  a  large  number  of  arrests,  or 
in  cutting  the  number  down.  What  the  public  inter- 
est demands  is  that  the  policeman  should  take  action, 
whether  that  action  mean  arrest  or  mere  admonition, 
when  action  is  called  for;  and  that  he  should  refrain 
from  taking  action,  not  because  he  shirks,  because 
he  fears  the  consequences  to  himself,  but  only  because 
his  good  judgment  tells  him  action  would  be  wrong. 
There  is  all  the  difference  in  the  world  between  fail- 
ing to  make  an  arrest  became  intelligent, 


judgmenjshows  if  should  not  he  made?  and  failing 
to  make  it  only  because  personal  trouble  may  follow 
or  time  be  required  in  court. 

The  soundness  of  the  policeman's  judicial  conduct 
is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  public,  and  per- 
haps especially  to  that  part  of  the  public  which  may 
have  offended  and  brought  itself  to  his  judicial 
notice.  A  mistake  made  by  a  policeman  may  often 
have  a  disastrous  and  irrevocable  effect.  Let  us  sup- 
pose, for  instance,  that  a  policeman  on  duty  in  a 
park  sees  a  citi/.en  on  his  hands  and  knees  on  the 


40  Policeman  and  Public 

lawn  with  his  head  down,  apparently  chewing  grass. 
The  officer  takes  him  into  custody.  On  his  way  to 
court  he  must  decide  what  to  charge  the  man  with. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  charge  may  be  violating  an  ordi- 
nance, in  which  case  the  specifications  would  be,  tres- 
passing on  the  grass  of  the  park.  The  magistrate 
would  probably  find  him  guilty,  say,  "Don't  do  it 
again,"  and  suspend  sentence,  or  perhaps  might  fine 
him  a  dollar,  and  the  man  would  walk  out  of  court 
little  the  worse  for  his  experience. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  policeman  might  decide 
that  trespassing  on  the  grass  was  only  an  accidental 
feature  of  the  case  and  that  the  man's  actions  were 
such  as  to  indicate  he  was  of  unsound  mind.  In  this 
case  he  would  tell  the  magistrate : 

"My  name  is  John  Conver;  I  am  a  patrolman 
attached  to  the  33d  Precinct,  Shield  No.  1234.  On 
the  3d  of  May,  1918,  at  about  3:  30  p.m.,  my  atten- 
tion was  attracted  to  the  defendant  by  seeing  him  on 
the  grass  in  the  park  on  my  post.  I  drew  near  to 
him  and  saw  that  he  was  on  his  hands  and  knees 
chewing  grass,  your  Honor.  When  I  addressed  him 
he  looked  up  and  there  was  a  kind  of  a  wild  look  in 
his  eyes.  He  kept  on  chewing  and  did  not  answer. 
I  thereupon  took  the  defendant  into  custody  and 
accompanied  him  to  the  station  house." 

Upon  such  testimony  the  magistrate  undoubtedly 
would  commit  the  defendant  to  a  hospital  for  obser- 


The  Policeman  as  Judge  41 

ration  as  to  his  sanity,  and  the  chances  are  fair  that 
he  would  be  found  insane  and  committed  to  an  asylum, 
perhaps  for  life. 

The  decision  of  the  policeman  as  to  whether  to 
charge  him  with  violation  of  an  ordinance  or  insanity 
might  be  the  turning  of  the  lane  in  that  man's  life, 
changing  absolutely  his  whole  future. 

Whenever  a  policeman  makes  an  arrest  he  starts 
the  whole  inexorable  machine  of  law  going.  When 
the  policeman  says,  "My  friend,  you  are  under  ar- 
rest," he  pushes  a  button  that  starts  the  machinery. 

He  opens  the  signal  box,  calls  the  station  house, 
reports  the  arrest.  The  chauffeur  of  the  patrol 
wagon  puts  out  his  pipe,  cranks  his  engine,  clangs 
his  bell,  rumbles  out  of  the  garage,  rings  his  way  up 
the  street  to  the  box  where  the  officer  and  the  dazed 
prisoner  are  waiting.  Into  the  Black  Maria  he  steps, 
down  the  street  he  whirls,  into  the  station  house  he 
goes.  There  he  goes  before  the  high  rail  and  gives 
to  a  gruff  lieutenant  his  name,  address,  occupation, 
and  various  other  facts.  Into  a  cell  then,  and  he 
hears  the  ominous  click  of  the  lock  as  the  doorman 
shuts  him  in.  After  a  few  hours'  waiting  the  patrol 
wagon  again  gets  into  action  and  he  goes  to  court. 
Here  he  is  turned  over  to  an  entirely  new  machine 
and  is  taken  in  charge  by  the  court  officers.  He 
stays  in  some  sort  of  detention  pen  until  his  turn  is 
reached ;  probably  OIK-  or  two  shyster  lawyers  sym- 


42  Policeman  and  Public 

pathize  with  him  and,  for  a  sufficient  emolument,  tell 
him  how  easy  it  will  be  for  them  to  clear  him.  Sud- 
denly he  is  haled  before  the  judge  and  finds  himself 
confronted  again  by  the  same  policeman  who  took  him 
into  custody.  The  policeman's  story  is  told ;  he  tells 
his  story.  The  judge  holds  him  for  trial  before  a 
higher  court. 

Behind  the  bars  again,  to  stay  there  perhaps  for 
months — perhaps  more  than  a  year,  unless  he  man- 
ages to  find  someone  who  will  go  bail  for  him  so  that 
he  can  be  free  pending  trial.  Then  the  appearance 
before  another  judge,  the  impaneling  of  a  jury,  the 
consultations  with  his  own  lawyer,  the  impatience 
when  he  feels  that  his  case  is  not  being  handled  as 
well  as  it  should  be;  the  intricate  legal  machinery 
with  judge,  stenographer,  court  officers,  jury,  spec- 
tators. And  then  the  trial  ends,  and  the  jury  may 
disagree  and  he  have  to  go  through  the  whole  thing 
again,  or  he  may  be  joyfully  acquitted,  or  he  may  be 
found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  go  up  the  river  for 
months  or  years. 

All  this  machinery,  all  this  drab  sequence  of  events, 
was  started,  or  was  not  started,  according  to  the 
decision  of  the  policeman  on  the  post  as  to  whether 
or  not  he  should  make  the  arrest.  If  he  makes  the 
arrest,  the  whole  operation  must  follow.  It  is  as 
inevitable  as  is  the  roast  beef  when  the  steer  first  puts 
his  nose  inside  the  high  gates  of  the  packing-house; 


The  Policeman  as  Judge  43 

or  as  is  the  little  motor  car  when  the  bar  of  steel 
first  is  swung  into  place  in  the  big  factory. 

The  policeman  on  post  is  in  all  truth  the  court  of 
first  instance;  he  is  a  de  facto  judge  just  as  truly  as 
any  ermined  magistrate,  and  a  wise  policeman  can 
be  guide,  philosopher  and  friend  as  he  carries  onhis 
daily,  hourly  court.  In  some  districts  where  foreign- 
born  abound,  a  trusted  inspector  or  captain  makes 
the  difference  to  whole  neighborhoods  between  happi- 
ness and  despair.  The  people  bring  him  all  their 
troubles,  and  he  is  wise  and  patient,  settling  out  of 
court,  without  arrests,  without  cost  or  any  loss  of 
self-respect  to  the  people,  many  a  case  that  comes 
to  him,  in  which  a  less  humane  officer  would  mechani- 
cally make  an  arrest.  Yet  he  is  strong  and  fearless 
in  acting  promptly,  if  action  is  needed ;  he  protects 
these  people  new  to  our  shores,  not  merely  from  their 
own  ignorance  of  our  ways,  but  also  from  being 
preyed  on  by  others. 

Uprightness  in  the  policeman  must  be  absolutely 
required  just  as  much  as  in  any  other  judge.  It  is 
vital  that  he  should  have  the  virtues  which  we  require 
in  judges.  For  there  is  no  way  of  avoiding  the  situa- 
tion: the  policeman  is  judge  whether  he  will  or  no; 
whether  you  will  or  no.  The  moment  he  is  given  his 
shield,  sworn  into  office,  and  sent  out  to  fulfill  the 
duties  of  that  office,  he  thereby  automatically  becomes 
charged  with  judicial  duty.  We  must  ask  ourselves, 


44  Policeman  and  Public 

then:  "Is  he  a  righteous  judge,  a  wise,  patient,  high- 
minded  judge,  with  the  single  purpose  of  doing  his 
sworn  duty  as  well  as  he  can?"  For  that  must  be 
his  sole  purpose ;  and  it  is  so  with  many  a  policeman. 

We  sometimes  are  tempted  to  believe  otherwise — 
to  conclude  that  most  policemen  are  unreliable  be- 
cause we  read  or  hear  of  the  unworthy  conduct  of 
individual  officers.  It  is  just  as  unfair  to  judge  the 
whole  police  body  by  the  conduct  of  a  few  men  as 
to  judge  the  Army  by  the  misconduct  of  separate 
individuals  in  it;  or  to  conclude  that  all  college  stu- 
dents live  fast,  loose  lives  because  we  happen  to  know 
of  a  particular  student  who  has  been  expelled  for  not 
taking  his  opportunities  seriously  enough.  Most 
policemen,  like  most  sailors,  or  clerks,  or  postmen,  or 
engineers,  or  any  other  class  of  men,  are  respectable 
and  well  meaning. 

Their  duties  are  peculiarly  difficult,  however,  and 
important,  and  the  public  should  support  them.  One 
essential  element  of  public  support  is  adequate  pay. 
It  cannot  be  expected  in  the  long  run  that  a  large 
body  of  men  will  do  work  beyond  what  is  paid  for. 
Only  if  the  policeman's  salary  is  commensurate  with 
the  character  of  work  that  he  performs  is  the  public 
in  a  position  to  insist  upon  conduct  and  results  that 
meet  the  requirements. 

Another  essential  is  that  the  public  shall  have 
respect  for  the  profession  of  policing,  and  show_this 


The  Policeman  as  Judge  45 

respect  by  its  attitude  toward  individual  officers  when 
they  measure  up  to  the_gt-*\P^Mr/^-  Just  censure  is 
wholesome,  but  indiscriminate  faultfinding  does  little 
good.  The  public  should  demand  and  expect  con- 
scientious, honest  work  from  the  police,  should  not 
tolerate  anything  else,  and  should  treat  cases  of  dis- 
honesty severely,  yes,  but  as  exceptions  and  not  as 
samples  of  the  character  of  all  the  colleagues  of  the 
offender. 

Just  as  it  would  be  ruinous  to  our  whole  judicial 
system  if  our  judges  were  anything  but  single- 
minded,  so  is  it  ruinous  and  poisonous  to  our  police 
system  to  have  other  considerations  than  plain  duty 
and  the  proper  performance  of  it  affect  the  conduct 
of  policemen.  Suppose  a  judge  could  be  relied  upon 
to  do  his  duty  only  if  no  interested  friend  reaches  his 
ear,  if  no  political  consideration  enters  in,  if  no  bribe 
is  offered.  Such  things  are  conceivable,  for  human 
nature  remains  human  nature,  but  every  effort  is 
made  to  prevent  it,  to  protect  the  judiciary,  to 
remove  temptation  from  it,  to  throw  around  it  a  tra- 
dition of  integrity,  of  single  purpose,  to  distinguish 
it  by  a  morale  that  will  maintain  the  absolute  integ- 
rity of  the  bench.  Judges  are  respected,  the  com- 
munity believes  in  them,  and  by  its  belief  buoys  them 
up  to  the  level  of  that  belief.  The  result  of  this  is 
that  an  unrighteous  judge  is  visited  with  undiluted 
public  scorn,  for  the  very  reason  that  the  bench  in 


46  Policeman  and  Public 

general  is  respected  so  highly  that  a  single  member 
who  falls  below  the  standard  is  known  to  be  a  glaring 
exception,  and  an  especially  reprehensible  one,  be- 
cause he  sins  against  such  a  bright,  clear  light. 

In  like  manner,  the  public,  realizing  the  judicial 
element  in  police  work,  must  insist  upon  the  highest 
standards  of  police  conduct ;  must  safeguard  the  pro- 
fession, removing  temptations,  dignifying  the  work, 
giving  proper  reward,  and,  above  all,  showing  the 
respect  to  members  of  police  forces  that  is  due  to 
men  who  perform  duties  of  this  character. 


Ill 

The  People's  Advocate 

BESIDES  being  in  this  way  a  judge,  a  policeman 
is  also,  in  a  very  strong  sense,  a  sort  of  people's 
advocate,  on  permanent  retainer  to  represent  the 
public  interests  against  private  intrusion  on  their 
rights.  This  is  an  aspect  of  police  duty  which  is  not 
commonly  seen,  and  which  police  forces  themselves 
probably  realize  only  vaguely,  if  at  all. 

To  make  this  clear,  let  us  take  the  example  of  a 
house  owner  who  fails  to  clear  his  sidewalk  of  snow 
and  ice  within  the  period  specified  by  city  ordinance. 
The  policeman  represents  the  public,  and  it  is  his 
duty  to  force  this  private  individual,  the  house  owner, 
to  clear  his  sidewalk  so  that  the  public  shall  not  fall 
down  and  break  arms  and  legs  on  its  slippery  surface. 
The  police  are  retained  by  the  public  to  do  just  such 
things  as  this  in  its  interest;  they  are  the  part  of 
the  public  to  whom  this  special  work  is  assigned. 

The  officer  on  post  goes  walking  up  the  street, 
notices  the  snow,  and  ruminates  somewhat  as  follows : 
"Well,  what  do  you  think  of  that — old  man  Hender- 
son hasn't  got  his  snow  cleared  off!  It's  up  to  me. 


48  Policeman  and  Public 

Guess  I  ought  to  serve  a  summons  on  him  by  rights. 
He's  always  slow  getting  his  snow  off,  and  last  month, 
was  it,  that  old  lady  fell  down  and  hurt  herself  so 
bad?  Well,  I  guess  I'll  let  it  go  this  time.  He's  a 
good  friend  of  mine;  gives  me  a  couple  of  Havanas 
every  once  in  a  while,  and  their  kitchen  and  coffee 
are  awful  good  on  a  cold  night.  Guess  I'll  let  it  go 
this  time." 

Mr.  Common  Citizen  comes  along.  But  the  officer 
whom  he,  as  a  member  of  the  public,  has  hired  to 
make  walking  along  the  street  safe  for  him,  has  failed 
to  perform  that  duty  because  the  private  interest 
represented  by  Mr.  Henderson  had  done  more  for 
the  officer  than  the  public  interests,  which  had  never 
given  him  cigars  or  hot  coffee  and  never  had  shown 
approval  in  any  way  when  he  did  good  work.  Mr. 
Citizen  therefore  falls  down  and  breaks  a  leg,  or 
perhaps  two. 

Or  suppose  that  Mrs.  Common  Citizen  has  hired  a 
taxicab  and  told  the  chauffeur  to  drive  her  to  the 
ferry,  explaining  to  him  tersely  that  she  is  afraid 
there  isn't  much  time  because  she  had  to  see  the  cook 
before  she  left  and  couldn't  do  this  before  since  the 
nurse  had  made  a  mistake  and  got  the  baby's  milk 
wrong  and  she  had  to  do  it  all  over  again  and  it  is  so 
annoying  to  have  things  go  wrong!  So  the  taxicab 
driver,  once  started,  was  trying  to  make  the  best  time 
he  could.  Soon,  however,  he  came  to  a  block  in  the 


The  People's  Advocate  49 

street,  at  a  place  where  traffic  ran  into  a  neck-of-the- 
bottle  because  over  half  the  street  was  being  used 
for  the  storage  of  construction  materials  and  the 
making  of  cement  by  a  builder  who  was  putting  up  a 
large  office  building  there. 

It  helps  not — to  have  Mrs.  Citizen  fret  and  be- 
moan her  hard  luck  inside  the  taxi;  it  helps  not — to 
have  the  chauffeur  curse  his  hard  luck,  seeing  his  tip 
shrink  in  proportion  as  the  minutes  tick  away. 

What  is  the  trouble?  Why  is  Mrs.  Citizen  held 
up  at  this  bottle-neck? 

The   trouble   is   that   the  police  officer  whom   the 
/chauffeur  and  Mrs.  Citizen,  both  members  of  the  pub- 
I  lie,   hired    to    protect    their    rights    against   private 
I  intrusion  on  them,  has  failed  to  require  the  builder 
I  to  use  no  more  than  the  one-third  of  the  street  which 
Ihisjermit  gives  him  the  right  to.     No  one,  except 
the  policeman,  would  know,  or  have  any  special  busi- 
ness to  know  just  how  much  of  the  street  the  authori- 
ties  had  given   the  builder  the   right   to   use.      The 
policeman  knows,  however.     It  is  his  duty  to  allow 
no  one  to  use  the  streets  in  this  way  without  examin- 
ing his  permit ;  and  then  it  is  his  further  duty  to 
require  the  builder  to  limit  his  operations  in  accord- 
ance with  the  express  terms  of  the  permit.     If  he  is 
allowed  to  use  one-third  of  the  street  between  certain 
points,  the  policeman,  in  the  interest  of  the  public, 
must  confine  him  to  that  particular  one-third. 


50  Policeman  and  Public 

But  the  builder  would  be  saved  a  lot  of  expense 
and  enabled  to  get  his  work  done  more  quickly  if  he 
could  use  a  little  more  of  the  street.  He  is  a  pretty 
good  fellow,  and  when  the  policeman  comes  to  exam- 
ine the  permit  he  talks  with  him  in  a  friendly  way, 
passes  out  cigars,  and  possibly  something  else;  he 
repeats  the  pleasant  dose  on  future  occasions.  Why 
should  the  policeman  bother  to  keep  that  friend 
builder  within  the  narrow  limits  of  one-third  of  the 
street?  What  difference  does  it  make  anyway? 

Traffic  held  up?  Yes,  but  the  public  doesn't  seem 
to  mind  particularly,  and  if  it  does  mind  it  doesn't 
blame  the  policeman.  It  just  sort  of  complains 
against  things  in  general,  hard  luck,  and  so  on.  It 
never  has  shown  any  indication  of  realizing  that  it, 
the  public,  is  entitled  to  the  use  of  a  full  two-thirds  of 
that  street  at  that  place,  and  if  it  doesn't  get  such 
use,  of  knowing  that  the  particular  policeman  on  that 
particular  post  is  responsible,  and  has  shamefully 
neglected  the  duty  he  owes  to  his  employer.  Such 
a  thought  as  that,  true  though  it  is,  probably  never 
entered  the  minds  of  either  policeman  or  public,  either 
employed  or  employer. 

Let  us,  again,  follow  Miss  Common  Citizen,  on  her 
way  to  school,  as  she  passes  through  a  street  which 
seems  to  be  always  dirty  and  dusty.  She  is  annoyed 
by  the  dust  which,  on  windy  days,  whirls  up  in  her 
face  and  hair,  and  she  says  to  herself  time  and  again : 


The  People's  Advocate  51 

"What  a  horrid,  dirty  city  and  what  a  horrid  place 
a  city  is  anyway;  they  can't  seem  to  keep  things 
clean.  I  wish  I  could  always  live  in  the  country !" 

But  here,  too,  a  large  part  of  the  trouble  is  that 
Miss  Common  Citizen,  as  a  member  of  the  public,  is 
not  properly  represented  by  the  policeman  whom  she 
hires  to  be  her  advocate  and  see  to  it  that  private 
interests  do  not  infringe  on  the  public  interests.  The 
policeman  whose  post  is  along  this  street  has  never 
enforced  the  ordinance  requiring  people  to  sweep 
the  dirt  from  their  sidewalks  before  eight  in  the  morn- 
ing, or  whatever  time  the  Street  Cleaning  Depart- 
ment goes  around  for  its  first  cleaning.  The  result 
is  that  sidewalks  are  attended  to  after  the  street  has 
been  cleaned  instead  of  before  it,  so  when  Miss  Citi- 
zen walks  down  on  her  way  to  school,  sidewalks  are 
still  being  swept  in  front  of  some  houses  and  have 
just  been  swept  in  front  of  some  others,  the  dust 
being  brushed  temporarily  into  the  street,  free  to 
blow  back  on  the  sidewalk,  or  up  in  the  air,  accord- 
ing as  the  elements  move  it.  Xow,  all  this  dust  should 
have  been  swept  into  the  street  an  hour  or  two  before, 
so  that  when  the  street-cleaning  people  came  along 
they  would  have  garnered  it  and  taken  it  away  where 
it  could  never  have  blown  into  the  young  face  of  Miss 
Common  Citizen  or  any  of  her  sister  members  of  the 
great  public. 

The   public  employs   the   policeman,   but   it    is   an 


52  Policeman  and  Public 

unexpressive  employer,  and  it  doesn't  seem  to  know 
the  difference  between  good  work  and  bad.  Any  mem- 
ber of  the  public  would  know  the  difference  in  two 
seconds  between  good  and  bad  work  on  the  part  of  his 
cook,  or  between  good  and  bad  work  in  almost  any 
other  way  that  work  is  done  for  him  personally,  but 
in  cases  where  work  is  done  for  him,  not  as  an  indi- 
vidual, but  as  a  member  of  the  public,  he  does  not 
seem  to  know,  and  perhaps  has  not  any  very  good 
way  of  knowing  whether  the  work  is  satisfactory  or 
not.  Not  knowing,  he  does  not  seem  to  care.  That 
is,  he  does  not  act  as  if  he  cared.  So  the  policeman, 
not  having  his  good  work  appreciated,  and  not  fall- 
ing into  trouble  if  he  neglects  the  interests  of  his 
employer,  very  readily  drops  into  the  habit,  prob- 
ably entirely  without  realizing  it,  of  neglecting  his 
real  employer,  the  public,  in  the  interest  of  the  very 
people  whom  he  should  proceed  against,  the  various 
private  interests.  For  the  private  interests  are 
human.  They  take  note  of  the  policeman's  efforts 
when  he  helps  them,  and  show  their  appreciation  in 
a  very  pleasant  manner.  It  is  always  satisfactory  to 
work  for  those  who  appreciate  what  you  do. 

This  means  a  great  deal  in  police  work.  If  things 
are  to  go  right  the  policeman  must  serve  only  the 
city — the  public ;  he  must  not  serve  one  individual 
against  another,  nor  must  he  serve  an  individual 
against  the  public.  Yet  it  is  hard,  it  is  against 


The  People's  Advocate  53 

human  nature  for  an  individual,  the  policeman  in  this 
case,  to  refuse  good  fellowship  and  cigars,  perhaps 
also  incurring  personal  enmity  at  the  same  time,  and 
to  do  this  for  the  sake  of  an  impersonal,  unhuman 
group  that  establishes  no  personal  relationship  with 
him ;  that  fails  to  make  it  hot  for  him  if  he  neglects 
his  duty;  that  seems  on  the  whole  not  to  realize  just 
what  his  duty  is.  If  the  policeman  always  did  what 
he  should,  and  in  the  interest  of  his  client  the  public, 
always  restrained  individuals  who  were  overstepping 
their  rights  and  therefore  making  things  inconven- 
ient or  worse  for  certain  members  of  the  public,  he 
would  gain  no  gratitude,  no  reward,  from  his  em- 
ployer, and  he  would  make  accumulating  enemies  of 
those  whom  he  restrained,  even  though  the  restraint 
were  courteous  and  considerate.  The  public  does 
not  seem  to  feel  collectively.  When  one  sees  a  police- 
man taking  into  custody  a  person  who  has  offended 
against  the  law,  one  is  rather  more  apt,  as  an  indi- 
vidual, to  feel  sympathy  for  the  other  individual, 
than  as  a  member  of  the  public  to  note  with  satisfac- 
tion the  faithful  work  of  the  public's  employee  in 
enforcing  the  law  against  an  offending  private  citizen. 
The  policeman  is  just  a  plain,  ordinary  human 
being  like  the  rest  of  us;  the  same  traits  mark  him 
that  mark  us.  He  has  to  make  his  way  in  the  trou- 
bled world  just  as  all  the  rest  of  us  do.  Good  friends 
are  assets  to  any  man — to  the  policeman  no  less  than 


,54  Policeman  and  Public 

to  others.  He  can  gather  friends  to  his  bosom  by 
doing  favors,  personal  favors,  at  the  public  expense. 
It  all  seems  so  natural.  The  ideal  of  service  of  the 
public  is  far  away  from  the  actual  life  of  patrolling 
a  post;  and  policemen  may  never  gain  the  habit  or 
even  the  conception  of  full  service  to  an  employer  so 
cold,-  so  inarticulate  and  unappreciative ;  for  close  at 
the  officer's  side,  blurring  his  view  of  the  public  are 
friendly  and  grateful  ones  who  ask  for  favors,  and 
show  themselves  such  bountiful  fountains  of  appre- 
ciation. 

This  is  where  the  police  administration  should 
come  in.  It  directly  represents  the  public,  and  its 
function  is  to  maintain  in  the  force  the  spirit  of  ser- 
vice to  the  public,  and  devotion  to  the  public  inter- 
ests. If  individual  officers  yield  to  the  temptation 
to  be  derelict  in  performing  their  duty,  the  fault  is 
with  the  aim  and  the  discipline  of  the  administration. 
In  the  broader  sense,  the  head  of  a  police  force  is 
that  member  of  the  public  who  happens  to  be  chosen 
to  secure  for  it  such  a  conscientious  performance  of 
duty  by  the  policemen  of  the  city  as  shall  ensure  the 
proper  guarding  of  the  public  interests  against  the 
depredations  of  those  who  would  infringe  on  them  for 
their  own  personal  advantage. 


IV 

Methods  of  Law  Enforcement 


X  offlnpr  r»f  —  thp  law  _  gfln^nf^enforce  laws 
effectively  unless  he  uses  the  best  methods.  One 
would  not  consider  a  surgeon  capable  of  performing 
an  appendectomy  simply  because  he  knew  that  this 
meant  j-emoving  the  appendix.  The  surgeon  is  not 
capable  until  he  has  learned,  not  merely  the  anatomy 
of  the  parts?  but  also  the  use  of  his  tools,  the  tech- 
nique and  best  practice.  In  the  same  manner,  jye 
should  not  expect  that  a  policeman  would  be  successj- 
ful  in  solving  a  murder  case,  for  example,  unless  he 
knew  something  more  than  that  "Homicide  is  the 
killing  of  one  human  being  by  the  act,  procurement 
or  omission  of  another."  He  might  also  know  that 
to  "kill  by  the  act"  means  to  assault,  shoot,  or  stab; 
to  "kill  by  procurement"  means  to  cause  one  person 
to  kill  another  ;  and  to  "kill  by  omission"  means  fail- 
ure to  provide  ordinary  measures  for  the  safety  of 
others,  .such  as  the  failure  of  a  builder  to  furnish 
safe  temporary  structures  for  his  workmen  to  stand 
on,  with  the  result  that  a  workman  falls  and  is 
killed.  Knowledge  of  the  law  would  point  out  to  the 


56  Policeman  and  Public 

policeman  what  his  duty  is.  but  would  not  in  itself 
help  him  much  toward  performing  it  in  any  but  very 
simple  cases. 

Like  the  surgeon  the  policeman  must  be  taught 
method.  In  murder  cases,  for  instance,  thorough 
methods  of  procedure,  worked  out  by  practical  men, 
will  go  far  toward  bringing  the  guilty  man  to  the 
bar  of  justice.  The  tools  used  in  New  York  in  mur- 
der cases,  packed  in  a  bag,  are  ready  at  all  times 
to  be  taken  instantly  to  the  scene  of  the  crime.  A 
murder  kit  contains  the  following  articles: 

Complete  fingerprint  outfit 

Searchlight 

Steel  tape  measure 

Paper 

Envelopes 

Sealing  wax 

Twine 

Tags 

Small  box  of  tools 

Soap  and  towel 

Stenographer's  notebook 

Rubber  gloves 

Bottle  of  antiseptic  wash 

Saw 

Screwdriver 

File 


57 

Pincers 
Scissors 
Jimmy 

A    stenographer   and   a   photographer   are   likewise 
always  on  duty  to  accompany  the  detectives. 

These  are  the  tools  of  the  detective,  the  murder 
specialist.  The  ordinary  policeman  on  post  must 
also  use  the  right  method  in  murder  cases.  Upon 
arriving  at  the  scene  of  the  crime  he  must  go  about 
his  work  in  a  regular  way  so  that  he  shall  miss  no 
chance  to  discover  even  the  faintest  clue  to  the 
criminal.  The  New  York  Department's  instructions 
to  officers  are  as  follows : 

"The  duty  of  the  member  of  the  force  first  arriving 
at  the  scene  of  a  crime  is  to  try  to  accomplish  the 
three  most  necessary  police  duties :  arrest  the  per- 
petrator; secure  and  safeguard  evidence;  get  wit- 
nesses. Pending  the  arrival  of  the  detectives,  these 
duties  devolve  upon  the  uniformed  man  and  he  must 
do  his  work  without  detracting  from  the  possibility 
of  further  investigation  by  the  detectives. 

"Clear  the  room  of  all  persons  not  in  authority  or 
without  business  there,  and  until  the  arrival  of  the 
detectives  admit  no  one  except  the  attending  physi- 
cian, members  of  the  Police  Department,  of  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney's  office,  of  the  Coroner's  office,  or  of 
the  Fire  Department  if  explosives  have  been  used. 

"Allow  no  one  to  touch  or  move  anything  in  the 


58  Policeman  and  Public 

room,  particularly  the  weapon,  and  do  not  touch 
anything  yourself.  This  is  important,  for  it  will 
enable  the  Department's  photographer  to  picture 
the  body  and  the  contents  of  the  room  in  their 
original  positions.  No  steps  should  be  taken  which 
would  destroy  or  obscure  evidence,  and  thus  make 
the  case  more  difficult  for  the  detectives  when  they 
take  hold  of  it.  At  the  same  time,  however,  the 
patrolman,  being  first  on  the  scene,  when  the  scent 
is  fresh,  may  have  opportunities  to  arrest  the  perpe- 
trator or  get  important  evidence  which  might  be 
entirely  lost  by  the  time  the  detectives  get  there,  and 
he  must  not  neglect  that  opportunity. 

"Get  the  names  and  addresses  of  all  witnesses  pos- 
sible. Separate  them  and  listen  to  any  statements 
they  may  make.  Question  them  to  ascertain  which 
are  the  most  important  ones. 

"Speak  to  no  outsiders  about  the  crime. 

"The  doctor  should  be  requested  not  to  destroy 
marks  of  evidence.  For  instance,  if  it  is  necessary 
for  the  physician  to  cut  away  the  clothing  in  the 
region  of  a  wound,  he  should  be  requested  to  cut 
around  the  rent  in  the  garment  and  not  through  it. 

"When  the  detectives  arrive,  furnish  them  with 
any  information  you  may  have  gathered  and  advance 
any  suggestions  you  have  for  the  solution  of  the 
case. 

"The   one  great  obstacle  in  the  past  to  smooth 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         59 

police  work  on  such  cases  has  been  the  lack  of  sym- 
pathy between  the  uniformed  force  and  the  detec- 
tives, but  this  is  fast  being  eradicated.  Some 
uniformed  men  have  been  loath  to  assist  the  detec- 
tives by  giving  information  because  they  have  been 
made  to  feel  by  some  detectives  that  a  sharp  line 
of  demarkation  exists.  On  the  other  hand,  some 
patrolmen  through  envy  feel  that  the  detectives  are 
butting  in  and  stealing  their  cases  and  on  this 
account  withhold  information. 

"As  a  result  of  this  lack  of  co-operation,  the  arrest 
of  the  perpetrator,  the  securing  and  safeguarding  of 
evidence  and  the  procuring  of  witnesses  is  often  not 
properly  accomplished.  Every  member  of  the 
Department  should  remember  that  the  biggest  thing 
of  all  is  to  accomplish  these  three  functions  and  that 
it  can  only  be  well  done  by  team  work.  If  one  branch 
of  the  service  is  a  success  it  reflects  credit  on  the 
entire  force,  but  if  it  is  a  failure  it  reflects  only 
discredit  on  all." 

The  policeman,  to  give  another  example,  must  be 
trained  with  scrupulous  care  in  the  technical  methods 
of  handling  physical  evidence,  for  many  a  case  has 


been  spoiled  because  some 
step  has  been  neglected  which  was  essential  to  prove 
that  the  article  submitted  in  court  as  evidence  was 
the  same  article  found  under  certain  conditions  at 
the  scene  of  the  crime.  A  case  happened  where  three 


60  Policeman  and  Public 

thieves  were  arrested,  charged  with  robbing  coin 
boxes  belonging  to  the  Telephone  Company.  The 
thieves  tried  to  break  away,  and  in  their  effort  to 
escape  one  of  them  threw  away  a  bunch  of  keys. 
These  were  picked  up  by  the  officer,  taken  to  the 
station  house,  and  turned  over  to  the  lieutenant  in 
charge. 

At  the  trial  the  introduction  of  the  keys  as  evi- 
dence would  have  materially  strengthened  the  case 
of  the  prosecution.  It  was  impossible,  however,  to 
use  them  as  evidence,  since  it  could  not  be  legally 
established  that  the  keys  picked  up  on  the  street 
and  subsequently  handed  to  the  desk  lieutenant  were 
the  same  keys  as  those  introduced  in  evidence. 

The  officer  had  failed  to  observe  the  necessary 
procedure.  He  should  have  shown  the  keys  to  his 
commanding  officer,  telling  him  the  circumstances 
under  which  he  had  obtained  possession  of  them,  and 
then,  in  the  presence  of  the  commanding  officer, 
should  have  placed  them  in  an  envelope,  sealed  it, 
and  written  upon  it  his  name  and  the  date.  The 
commanding  officer  should  have  signed  his  name  also. 
In  court,  when  the  keys  were  to  be  offered  in  evidence, 
the  officer  whose  name  appeared  on  the  envelope 
should  have  broken  the  seal  and  opened  the  envelope 
upon  the  witness  stand ;  after  the  hearing  was  closed 
he  should  again  have  sealed  the  keys  up  in  the  same 
way  and  signed  his  name. 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         61 

Officers  must  be  taught  that  tags  tied  to  articles 
are  not  sufficient  means  of  identification,  for  no  wit- 
ness ean  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  court,  even 
if  the  opposing  lawyer  is  not  particularly  clever  or 
insistent,  that  the  tag  is  now  tied  to  exactly  the  same 
article  upon  which  he  put  it  in  the  first  place.  If 
the  piece  of  evidence  is  too  bulky  to  be  placed  in  an 
envelope,  it  should  be  tagged,  but  in  addition  to  this 
the  officer  should  place  upon  it  some  unremovable 
mark  of  identification,  noting  this  mark  in  his  memo- 
randum book,  and  showing  it  to  his  commanding 
officer. 

The  policeman,  too,  must  be  instructed  thoroughly 
in  the  technique  of  fingerprints,  for  one  careless 
or  thoughtless  act  may  destroy  a  bit  of  evidence 
without  which  the  case  cannot  be  solved.  If  a  police- 
man, for  instance,  finds  a  revolver  beside  a  dead  body, 
he  should  either  leave  it  untouched  until  the  arrival 
of  the  detectives  with  the  necessary  materials  for 
discovering  fingerprints,  or  handle  it  in  such  a  way 
as  surely  not  to  smudge  any  prints  that  may  be  on 
it,  noting  scrupulously  the  exact  position  of  the 
revolver  and  returning  it  to  that  position  exactly, 
when  he  has  finished  whatever  he  found  necessary  to 
do  with  it. 


62  Policeman  and  Public 

There  is  another  aspect  of  methods  of  law  enforce- 
ment that  is  far-reaching  and  of  great  import. 

The  head  of  a  police  department  is  sworn  to 
enforce  the  laws,  and  this  means  all  the  laws;  he 
has  no  discretion  in  this.  He  cannot  "administra- 
tively legislate,"  and  such  would  be  the  case  if  he 
had,  or  assumed,  the  right  to  instruct  his  men  to 
refrain  from  enforcing  some  particular  laws,  for  such 
instructions  would  amount  to  annulling  these  laws. 
The  police  head  may,  however,  and  certainly  should, 
prescribe  methods  of  enforcement,  so  that  the  results 
aimed  at  shall  be  best  attained,  the  spirit  of  the  law 
best  fulfilled.  He  would  fail  in  his  sworn  duty  to 
enforce  all  the  laws  unless  he  used  his  best  judgment 
and  gave  careful  instruction  as  to  method. 

Nothing  could  be  more  important  than  that  wise 
methods  of  law  enforcement  should  be  practised 
among  the  numerous  foreign  populations  that  are 
such  striking  characteristics  of  our  large  American 
cities.  In  New  York  there  are  some  police  precincts 
where  those  of  foreign  birth  or  foreign  parentage 
number  ninety  per  cent  of  the  inhabitants.  Many 
of  them  do  not  speak  English,  they  live  together  in 
smaller  or  larger  groups  and  keep  to  themselves,  so 
that  practically  they  have  formed  little  settlements 
from  the  old  country  right  here  in  our  midst,  and 
are  sufficient  to  themselves.  Their  manners  and 
customs  are  in  many  ways  different  from  ours.  They 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         63 

are  well  disposed,  law-abiding,  well  meaning.  They 
have  come  to  this  country  full  of  hope,  full  of  eager- 
ness, with  the  intention  of  doing  the  right  thing, 
but  our  speech  and  our  ways  are  strange  to  them, 
and  they  know  nothing  of  our  enacted  law.  In  try- 
ing honestly  to  do  what  they  believe  is  right,  they 
not  infrequently  violate  our  laws,  especially  our  local 
ordinances. 

A  great  deal  depends  upon  the  methods  used  by  the 
policeman  among  this  population.  If  the  foreigner 
who  is  not  conscious  of  having  committed  any  offense, 
is  treated  harshly  and  arbitrarily  by  the  policeman 
because  of  some  omission  on  his  part,  the  effect  on 
him  may  be  far  more  significant  than  one  would 
dream.  To  many  an  immigrant  the  policeman  is  the 
whole  United  States  Government;  he  is  the  only 
manifestation  of  government  seen  by  the  new  arrival, 
who  is  not  familiar  with  our  constitution  or  our  in- 
volved methods  of  ruling  ourselves.  All  he  knows  is 
that  it  is  a  free  country,  that  the  people  rule,  and 
that  the  big  man  in  blue  is  the  one  he  must  look  to. 
The  Board  of  Aldermen,  Mayor,  Judges,  Governor, 
Legislature,  Supreme  Court,  Secretary  of  War, 
President — all  for  him  are  embodied  in  that  uni- 
formed policeman.  If  the  policeman  is  kind  and 
patient,  if  he  tries  to  help  the  foreigner  learn  the 
ways  of  the  new  land,  tries  to  assist  him  when  he  is 
in  trouble,  helps  him  to  find  a  job,  shows  him  where 


64  Policeman  and  Public 

the  children  should  go  to  school,  directs  him  to  the 
nearest  health  clinic,  and,  in  case  he  breaks  a  law 
or  two,  explains  to  him  just  what  he  should  and 
should  not  do  and  gives  him  another  chance,  the 
new  arrival  can  not  help  absorbing  the  idea  that 
the  country  he  has  come  to  is  a  benevolent  country, 
that  America  is  the  land  of  his  ideals,  and  he  is  ready 
to  love  it  and  serve  it  and  fight  for  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  the  policeman  is  unfeeling,  if  he  gives  a  surly 
answer  to  shrinking  inquiries;  if,  the  moment  the 
immigrant  unwittingly  violates  an  ordinance,  he  is 
taken  into  custody,  haled  before  a  judge  and  perhaps 
fined  a  dollar  or  two,  all  for  some  offense  which  he 
has  no  knowledge  of,  and  after  an  unfriendly,  hostile 
procedure  by  unfeeling  men — what  puzzled  disap- 
pointment must  be  in  this  immigrant's  heart !  He 
instinctive!}'  knows  he  has  done  no  real  harm.  What 
sort  of  government  is  it  that  deals  out  this  kind  of 
treatment  for  what  was  at  the  worst  a  trifling  and 
unintentional  offense?  He  is  resentful.  His  chagrin 
is  bitter  at  finding  in  the.  land  of  promise  about  the 
same  kind  of  officialdom  that  he  hoped  he  had  for- 
ever left  behind  him,  and  when  people  come  along 
preaching  resistance  to  Government,  down  with  Gov- 
ernment, he  lends  a  ready  ear.  The  soil  of  his  mind 
has  been  prepared  to  welcome  and  nourish  that 
iniquitous  seed. 

The  power  of  the  policeman  for  good  or  for  evil 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         65 

is  great;  one  cannot  but  wonder  whether  harsh  and 
unsympathetic  performance  of  duty  among  strangers 
may  not  work  more  potently  to  breed  discontent  and 
anarchy  than  all  the  exhortations,  and  invocations, 
and  denunciations  of  soap-box  corner  orators. 

In  this  aspect  of  his  duties  the  policeman  is  an 
educator,  just  as  truly  as  is  the  president  of  one  of 
our  large  universities.  To  illustrate ;  on  August  26, 
1914,  General  Order  No.  48  was  issued  to  the  Police 
Department  of  New  York.  It  was  entitled: 

"Keeping  the  Streets  Clean"  . 

and  the  introduction  was  as  follows: 

"In  order  to  accomplish  the  best  results,  the  Police 
Department  must  work  in  close  co-operation  with  the 
Health  and  Street  Cleaning  Departments.  You  will 
therefore  give  to  officials  of  these  two  departments 
all  proper  assistance  in  carrying  out  their  duties. 

"When  you  find  violations  of  the  ordinances  rela- 
tive to  keeping  the  streets  clean,  speak  to  the  offender 
and  try  by  warning  and  advice  to  cause  him  to  cor- 
rect the  conditions. 

"You  will  be  doing  the  best  kind  of  police  work 
if  you  can  correct  violations  and  keep  them  corrected 
without  making  arrests. 

"The  object  is  to  keep  the  streets  clean  and  health- 
ful, and  this  result  can  be  obtained  only  by  constant 
attention." 


66  Policeman  and  Public 

In  this  order  were  enumerated  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal instances  of  street  littering,  and  officers  were 
told  what  kind  of  police  action  to  take  in  order  to 
cure  the  conditions. 

The  end  of  the  order  read  as  follows : 

"Members  of  the  force  observing  am*  of  the  above 
violations  will  take  such  action  as  will  correct  the 
condition,  but  will  not  serve  summons  or  make  sum- 
mary arrests  unless  directed  to  do  so  by  Commanding 
Officer." 

The  conventional  police  method  in  matters  of  this 
kind  'was  either  to  look  the  other  way,  or  if  any 
action  had  to  be  taken,  to  make  an  arrest  or  serve 
a  summons.  A  patrolman,  reproached  by  a  superior 
officer  for  the  unhealthful,  untidy  conditions  of  his 
post,  could  pretty  well  excuse  himself  if  he  could 
point  to  a  record  of  having  made  a  certain  number 
of  arrests  or  served  a  certain  number  of  summonses. 

"I  have  done  the  best  I  could ;  what  can  you  expect 
with  such  people?" 

There  was  no  responsibility  put  upon  the  police 
for  bettering  the  conditions,  for  obtaining  the  results 
sought  for  in  the  ordinance,  for  bringing  about  by 
their  work  a  wholesome,  cleanly  condition.  All 
ordinances  looked  alike  to  the  old-fashioned  police- 
man. If  any  one  was  violated  he  automatically 
served  a  summons  if  he  did  anything,  and  that  ended 
his  full  performance  of  duty. 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         67 

The  newer  method  forbids  the  policeman  to  make 
an  arrest  or  to  serve  a  summons  except  with  the 
express  approval  of  his  commanding  officer;  and  it 
requires  him  so  to  educate  the  people  on  his  post  that 
they  will  gradually  acquire  the  habit  of  compliance 
with  the  ordinances,  thereby  keeping  the  street  clean 
and  healthful.  The  only  weapon  which  the  police- 
man used  before — that  of  taking  into  custody  or 
summoning  to  court — is  denied  him ;  yet,  without  this 
weapon,  he  is  required  to  accomplish  far  more  than 
formerly,  in  that  he  must  achieve  the  purpose  of  the 
ordinance,  and  cannot  simply  rest  secure,  having 
shed  all  responsibility  by  the  serving  of  certain 
papers.  He  becomes  a  teacher  of  cleanliness,  an 
educator  of  good  habits ;  he  accomplishes  the  desired 
purpose,  and  does  this  without  exciting  resentment, 
and  without  causing  inconvenience.  He  plays  the 
part  rather  of  helpful  friend  and  guide  than  of 
avenging,  implacable  autocrat. 


Another  situation  that  frequently  calls  for  police 
attention,  and  that  so  often  is  accompanied  by  public 
disorder  is  a  strike  or  industrial  disturbance  of  any 
kind.  In  this  matter,  as  in  most  others,  much  of  the 
difficulty  from  the  police  point  of  view  fades  away 
under  the  light  of  clear  understanding.  If  both  sides 
to  such  a  dispute  are  made  to  understand  exactly 


68  Policeman  and  Public 

what  their  rights  are  and  where  these  rights  stop,  and 
if  they  are  convinced  that  the  police  can  be  relied  on 
to  enforce  order,  most  of  the  usual  troubles  will  never 
happen.  The  police  can  maintain  order  only  if  they 
are  strong,  and  absolutely  fair ;  if  they  see  to  it  that 
both  sides  understand  what  they  may  and  may  not 
legally  do,  and  prevent  both  from  acting  illegally, 
especially  from  hiring  gunmen  to  promote  their 
own  interests.  Most  of  the  disorder  in  connection 
with  industrial  disputes  comes  with  the  employment 
of  private  "detectives"  by  one  side  or  the  other.  If 
the  police  do  their  duty,  then  there  is  no  need  of 
private  guards,  so  if  either  side  employs  them  the 
assumption  is  justifiable  that  violation  of  law  is 
intended.  Naturally,  if  the  police  are  not  able  to. 
maintain  order,  or  can  be  bribed  by  either  side,  then 
it  is  hard  to  blame  people  for  looking  out  for  their 
own  interests  as  well  as  they  can. 

In  order  to  clarify  this  situation,  Circular  Order 
No.  19  was  issued  to  the  New  York  Force  on  June 
9,  1917,  given  wide  circulation  in  the  newspapers, 
and  sent  to  the  parties  concerned  when  industrial 
disputes  arose. 

"Circular  No.  19. 

STRIKES. 

"The  duties  of  the  Police  Department  in  connec- 
tion with  strikes  and  industrial  disturbances  are,  in 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         69 

the  last  analysis,  as  on  all  other  occasions,  to  protect 
Life  and  Property,  and  to  maintain  the  Public  Peace. 

"The  particular  steps  to  be  taken  and  the  number 
and  distribution  of  the  Force  employed  must,  as  a 
general  rule,  be  left  to  the  sound  discretion  and  judg- 
ment of  Commanding  Officers.  There  are,  however, 
certain  broad  rules  and  well-established  principles  of 
Law  which  govern  cases  of  this  kind,  with  which  all 
should  be  familiar. 

"Unless  otherwise  advised  by  the  Courts  or  Com- 
manding Officers,  it  is  to  be  assumed  that  the 
purposes  of  a  peaceful  strike  are  legal. 

"Since  such  affairs  are  often  accompanied  by  much 
bitterness  and  hard  feeling  on  both  sides,  it  is  impera- 
tive that  the  Law  be  administered  with  the  utmost 
impartiality. 

"In  so  far  as  this  Department  is  concerned,  one 
or  more  employes  may  refuse  to  work,  and  one  or 
more  employers  may  refuse  to  hire  any  particular 
person,  or  persons,  for  such  reasons  as  may  seem  to 
them  best,  or  for  no  reason  at  all.  The  employes 
who  have  gone  on  strike  may  gather  in  front  of  one 
or  any  number  of  the  places  where  they  were  formerly 
employed  and  address,  within  certain  limits,  such 
argument  as  they  may  desire  to  their  fellow-workmen 
who  are  still  employed,  urging  them  to  go  on  strike. 
Similar  arguments  may  be  addressed  to  those  who 
they  may  have  reason  to  believe  are  considering  tak- 


70  Policeman  and  Public 

ing  their  former  positions  of  employment  either  per- 
manently or  temporarily  as  strike-breakers.  The 
strikers  or  their  s}rmpathizers  may,  also,  advise 
prospective  customers  of  the  fact  that  they  are  on 
strike  and  the  nature  of  their  grievances— be  they 
real  or  supposed.  The  words  used,  in  all  such  cases, 
however,  must  not  be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  incite 
to  violence  or  offend  public  decency. 

"While  both  sides  to  such  a  controversy  have  the 
right  of  assembly,  no  violence  or  even  physical  con- 
tact between  opposing  factions  shall  be  permitted. 

"The  right  of  the  strikers  to  conduct  peaceful 
picketing  has  been  upheld  by  the  Courts,  but  the  num- 
bers so  employed  must  not  be  so  great  as  to  interfere 
with  the  free  passage  of  vehicles  or  pedestrians,  nor 
by  their  very  number  to  constitute  an  intimidation. 
The  number  of  pickets  that  may  be  lawfully  per- 
mitted depends  upon  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
such  as  the  width  of  the  street  and  the  sidewalk,  the 
number  of  employes  who  are  working,  the  number 
and  size  of  the  exits  to  the  building,  the  size  of  the 
building,  and  the  number  of  neutral  persons  using  the 
sidewalk  or  thoroughfare  in  question. 

"Members  of  the  Police  Department  have  no 
proper  official  interest  in  the  merits  of  the  contro- 
versy, and  their  action  is  not  to  be  affected  thereby. 

"In  the  handling  of  strikes,  as  in  most  other  Police 
work,  the  best  measures  are  those  of  a  preventive 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         71 

nature.  Much  trouble  can  be  avoided  if  the  Com- 
manding Officer  will  at  the  beginning  of  any  strike, 
advise  both  sides  as  to  their  respective  rights  and 
duties.  They  should  be  strongly  warned  against  the 
dangers  resulting  from  the  employment  of  known 
thugs  or  other  persons  apt  to  cause  disorder.  The 
apprehension  and  punishment  of  those  who  violate 
the  law  is  the  function  of  the  Police  Department, 
the  District  Attorney's  office  and  the  Courts,  and 
cannot  properly  or  lawfully  be  undertaken  by 
private  citizens." 

During  the  summer  of  1916  there  was  a  prolonged 
traction  strike  in  New  York  City  which  went  on  for 
weeks,  was  "settled,"  and  then  went  on  for  weeks 
again.  It  was  said  to  be  the  largest  transportation 
strike  in  numbers  of  men  affected  that  has  ever 
taken  place  in  the  United  States,  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  strike  of  the  American  Railway 
Union  some  twenty-five  years  ago,  in  which  there 
was  gross  disorder,  and  large  numbers  of  men  were 
injured  and  killed.  During  this  New  York  strike 
there  was  no  serious  disorder,  not  a  person  was 
killed,  and  there  were  practically  no  bad  injuries. 

What  had  been  the  position  of  the  police  force? 
The  question  whether  cars  were  run  was  no  concern 
of  theirs.  The  question  who  won  the  strike,  likewise 
could  not  interest  them.  Their  duty,  and  their  sole 
duty,  was  to  maintain  order,  to  protect  life  and 


72  Policeman  and  Public 

property,  to  ensure  to  all  concerned — the  companies, 
the  workers,  the  public — the  enjoyment  of  their  full 
legal  rights. 

Early  in  the  strike  the  question  was  raised  whether 
policemen  should  be  assigned  to  ride  on  trolley  cars. 
The  police  authorities  stated  that  policemen  would 
not  be  so  assigned  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the 
company  to  operate  its  cars,  but  if,  in  order  to  main- 
tain order,  to  protect  the  public,  it  should  prove 
necessary  to  assign  officers  to  cars,  this  would  be 
done,  and  as  many  officers  would  be  assigned  to  ride 
on  each  car  as  might  be  needed  to  preserve  the  peace 
and  protect  the  public.  The  question  came  up  also 
whether  pickets  should  be  allowed  to  accost  old 
employees  of  the  company  who  had  not  left  its  service 
or  new  ones  who  had  been  hired  to  take  the  place 
of  strikers.  The  police  answered  that  there  was  no 
law  to  prevent  one  man  from  talking  to  another  on 
the  street,  no  matter  how  near  it  might  be  to  a  car 
barn  or  other  company  building.  Groups,  even, 
might  gather  so  long  as  they  did  not  block  the  streets 
and  thereby  infringe  upon  the  rights  of  other  citizens, 
and  so  long  as  they  did  nothing  that  might  tend  to  a 
breach  of  the  peace.  If  such  groups,  however,  even 
though  consisting  of  only  two  or  three  men,  became 
disorderly  the  police  would  take  action.  On  the  other 
hand,  strikers  were  not  permitted  to  talk  to  car 
crews,  since  if  the  attention  of  motorman  or  conduc- 


73 

tor  were  diverted  in  this  way  from  his  work  of  operat- 
ing the  car  it  would  not  be  safe  for  the  public,  either 
for  that  part  of  it  that  might  be  bold  enough  to  ride 
in  the  car,  or  those  in  the  street,  whether  afoot  or 
in  vehicles. 

This  police  method  of  handling  strikes,  then,  con- 
sisted simply  in  clearing  away  misunderstandings 
from  the  minds  of  all  affected,  and  then,  without 
favor,  patiently,  strongly,  enforcing  the  law. 


Very  similar  methods  were  used  by  the  police  in 
connection  with  Free  Speech  and  Free  Assembly, 
with  reference  to  which  so  much  confusion  has  ob- 
tained, and  so  much  disorder  and  hard  feeling  have 
been  engendered  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

During  the  spring  of  1914  there  was  a  great  deal 
of  unrest  in  New  York.  Bands  of  people  out  of  work 
paraded  through  the  streets  and  went  to  restaurants 
and  churches,  not  asking  for  food,  but  demanding  it 
as  their  right.  Anarchistic  meetings  were  held  every 
Saturday  afternoon  in  Union  Square,  growing 
steadily  in  numbers,  in  fervor  of  speech,  and  in  men- 
ace of  violence.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  first  Satur- 
day in  April  it  was  clear  that  things  were  rapidly 
coming  to  a  head:  the  police  had  made  a  number  of 
arrests,  there  had  been  forcible  resistance  to  officers, 
and  police  brawn  had  been  used  with  resulting  bruises 


74  Policeman  and  Public 

and  bloodshed.  The  feeling  was  excited,  defiant,  and 
bitter.  The  threats  were  not  disguised  that  since  the 
police  had  "shown  their  hand,"  had  started  this 
trouble,  had  acted  like  agents  of  the  capitalists,  had 
refused  to  permit  the  inalienable  right  of  free 
speech — crowds  would  come  next  Saturday  prepared 
to  maintain  by  force  the  rights  that  the  police  had 
sought  to  take  away  from  them  by  force.  Bombs 
would  answer  clubs  and  revolvers. 

During  the  week  that  ensued  the  police  administra- 
tion was  changed,  and  the  method  of  handling  these 
meetings  was  radically  altered.  It  was  made  clear 
to  all  the  detectives  who  were  going  to  be  on  duty 
the  following  Saturday,  and  to  all  the  superior  offi- 
cers of  the  uniformed  force,  exactly  what  they  were 
to  do  and  how  they  were  to  do  it.  It  was  pointed 
out  that  the  crowd  would  undoubtedly  be  most  pro- 
vocative; that  many  in  it  would  try  to  make  them- 
selves martyrs  and  desired  nothing  more  ardently 
than  to  have  the  police  assault  them ;  that  they  would 
tempt  the  police  to  take  what  would  seem  to  be  the 
initiative.  It  was  explained  to  the  police  that  their 
great  effort  should  be  to  prevent  trouble.  If  trouble 
should  arise  they  were  to  suppress  it,  and  to  use 
whatever  force  might  be  necessary  for  suppression. 
But  their  aim  was  to  be  to  prevent  it  from  arising. 
In  order  to  avoid  any  appearance  of  inviting  trouble, 
only  a  few  policemen  in  uniform  would  be  in  evidence ; 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         75 

there  would  be  no  show  of  a  small  police  army  ready 
for  trouble.  Within  immediately  available  distance, 
however,  would  be  policemen  enough  to  bottle  up 
Union  Square  in  a  couple  of  minutes. 

One  hundred  detectives  had  been  chosen,  who  were 
to  be  dressed  like  any  other  men  who  might  be  in  the 
crowd.  They  were  to  be  scattered  around  singly,  on 
the  watch  for  signs  of  violence  so  that  they  could 
nip  any  attempt  in  the  bud.  Beyond  this,  however, 
they  were  charged  with  the  duty  of  radiating  good 
nature,  of  trying  to  maintain  an  atmosphere  of  quiet 
and  calm.  For  a  smile  is  just  as  infectious  as  a  sneer. 

The  change  of  method  was  almost  unbelievably 
successful.  There  was  no  disorder ;  the  crowd  was 
very  large  but  very  well  behaved,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  meeting  when  everything  was  over  and  many  had 
gone  home,  three  cheers  were  proposed  and  given 
for  the  police  and  for  the  old  Chief  Inspector,  Max 
Schmittberger,  who  had  been  in  personal  charge. 

A  fow  weeks  after  this  meeting  there  was  another 
one,  much  smaller  than  that  in  Union  Square,  where 
events  happened  to  shape  themselves  in  such  a  way 
that  unskillful  methods  of  policing  might  have 
brought  about  a  good  deal  of  disorder,  whereas  the 
skillful  way  in  which  the  single  policeman  on  duty 
handled  the  situation  completely  averted  it.  Noon- 
day meetings  were  being  held  at  Bowling  Green  Park. 
Some  of  these  had  been  rather  stormy,  but  no  action 


76  Policeman  and  Public 

had  been  taken  to  stop  them,  since  they  were  within 
the  law.  Unless  it  grows  so  large  or  gathers  in  such 
a  location  as  seriously  to  interfere  with  traffic,  on 
sidewalk  or  in  street,  or  unless  there  is  incitement  to 
violence,  a  meeting  is  lawful,  and  the  police  are  not 
merely  to  permit  it  but  to  see  that  it  is  not  interfered 
with. 

On  the  day  in  question  a  good-sized  crowd  was 
being  exhorted  by  an  earnest  young  woman.  The 
day  was  warm,  the  sun  was  shining,  one  of  those 
grateful  first  days  of  spring  which  so  gladden  our 
hearts  after  a  persistent,  dreary  winter.  The  sky 
was  blue,  the  breeze  gentle ;  the  men  in  the  crowd  were 
contented  and  good-natured.  They  had  finished  their 
lunch  and  were  listening  rather  curiously  and  toler- 
antly to  the  orator,  most  of  them  placidly  smoking. 
She  was  declaring  that  about  everything  connected 
with  government  was  wrong;  that  rulers  were  slaves 
of  capitalists ;  that  workers  were  slaves  of  rulers ; 
that  the  whole  situation  was  intolerable  and -should 
not  be  permitted ;  that,  in  fact,  most  everything  was 
wrong,  and  the  only  real  way  to  right  it  was  to  listen 
to  her, — she  would  point  out  the  way,  then  the  people 
could  rise  in  their  might,  smite  their  rulers,  and 
run  things.  The  crowd  kept  on  calmly  puffing  at 
cigars  and  complacently  enjoying  the  comfortable 
after-lunch  feeling  and  the  auspicious  spring  noon. 

A  newcomer  walking  down  Broadway  joined  the 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         77 

crowd.  Possibly  he  had  had  no  lunch,  or  too  much, 
for  he  seemed  to  take  seriously  the  words  of  the 
speaker  which  were  making  no  impression  upon  the 
others.  He  blurted  out  in  a  loud  voice  that  if  she 
didn't  stop  saying  things  like  that  he  would  make 
her!  She  answered  tartly,  for  that  was  just  the 
opportunity  she  wanted,  a  chance  to  start  things, — 
she  hadn't  been  able  to  work  the  crowd  up  at  all  until 
now.  The  man  was  irritated  by  her  reply,  made  a 
movement  toward  her,  and  announced  that  he  would 
show  her  "what  was  what." 

At  once  the  atmosphere  changed.  Men  straight- 
ened up,  took  their  hands  out  of  their  pockets,  puffed 
cigars  faster.  Faces  began  to  tighten.  People 
moved  in  closer.  The  complacency  of  a  few  moments 
before  had  gone.  Tenseness  was  replacing  it. 

The  policeman  assigned  to  cover  that  meeting  was 
standing  on  one  side  of  the  crowd;  he  too  had  been 
enjoying  the  weather  and  the  warmth.  He  was  com- 
fortably braced  on  legs  spread  apart  at  exactly  the 
angle  which  would  give  him  the  best  support  and  call 
for  the  least  effort,  swinging  his  night  stick  idly  back 
and  forth  and  giving  no  heed  to  the  meeting,  for,  as 
an  individual,  he  was  not  interested  in  the  doctrine 
that  was  being  expounded,  and,  as  an  officer  of  the 
law,  nothing  was  happening  which  demanded  his 
attention.  With  the  change  created  by  the  coming 


78  Policeman  and  Public 

of  the  outraged  citizen,  -however,  a  new  condition 
developed. 

Stepping  up  to  the  objector  the  officer  touched 
him  on  the  shoulder  and  said  pleasantly,  "Come,  my 
friend,  you'll  have  to  cut  this  out." 

"Cut  nothing  out !  Do  you  hear  what  she's  saying, 
officer?  Why  don't  you  stop  her?  If  you  don't,  I 
will!" 

"Now  see  here,"  the  policeman  soothingly  an- 
swered, "this  here  is  her  show.  She  isn't  violating 
any  law  and  as  long  as  she  don't  I'm  going  to  protect 
her  in  her  meeting.  If  you  want  to  hold  a  meeting, 
go  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  street  there  and  I'll 
protect  you  too." 

This  closed  the  incident.  The  objector  walked  off, 
the  group  of  listeners  went  their  several  ways,  smil- 
ing and  amused,  and  the  orator  disappeared. 


Even  if  the  policeman  knows  the  laws  and  is  skill- 
ful in  his  manner  of  enforcing  them,  he  will  not  be 
effective  as  a  member  of  a  large  force  unless  the 
organization  methods  are  soundly  planned  and 
administered.  An  unorganized  policeman  would  be 
of  little  value.  Each  man  must  know  just  what  part 
of  the  job  he  is  expected  to  do,  how  he  is  expected 
to  do  it,  and  where  his  duty  fits  in  with  the  whole 
big  organization. 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         79 

An  impossible  situation  would  be  created  if  ten 
thousand  officers  of  the  law  were  simply  sent  out  into 
the  street  and  told  that  they  were  to  enforce  all  the 
laws. 

What  would  be  the  result?  Some  localities  would 
be  overpoliced,  some  underpoliced,  depending  upon 
the  distances  from  the  different  station  houses. 

But  this  distinction  would  soon  vanish,  for  in  a 
very  short  time  every  policeman  would  be  sitting 
comfortably  in  court,  having  apprehended  a  spitter, 
or  a  tardy  sweeper  of  sidewalks,  or  an  unlicensed 
dog  owner,  or  a  walker  on  park  grass,  or  a  too- 
youthful  newsboy,  or  a  sausage  seller  at  ten-five 
a.m.  on  a  Sunday  morning,  or  a  fruit  dealer  who  sold 
an  overripe  apple,  or  a  citizen  who  carried  a  lighted 
cigar  (in  his  hand  only)  on  the  subway  stairs,  or 
perchance  a  poor  overdriven  mother  who  had  filled 
her  ash  can  up  to  within  three  inches  of  the  top. 
It  would  be  a  fine  crop  of  "criminals"  in  court;  a 
grand  sweeping  up  of  petty  offenders  in  a  few  sec- 
tions of  the  city.  Their  offenses  had  been  apparent 
from  the  very  fact  that  they  were  slight  and  usually 
thoughtless. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  police  made  a  clean 
sweep  of  the  streets  near  the  station  houses  of  these 
potty  offenders,  they  swept  the  streets  clean  of  them- 
selves also,  leaving  a  clear  field  for  operations  by 
major  offenders,  whose  offenses,  for  the  reason  that 


80  Policeman  and  Public 

they  are  very  much  more  serious,  are  therefore  more 
deliberate,  hidden,  and  not  apparent  to  the  casual 
policeman.  The  traditional  small  boy  would  be 
arrested,  while  the  hold-up  man  could  do  as  he 
pleased. 

It  is  an  administrative  falsehood  to  state  that  a 
police  officer  can  go  out  and  enforce  all  the  laws 
impartially.  As  between  offenders  there  must  of 
course  be  no  partiality ;  rich  or  poor,  black  or  white, 
all  must  look  alike  to  the  officer  of  the  law.  As 
between  offenses,  however,  there  must  be  distinct 
partiality.  The  patrolman  must  be  partial  to  the 
woman  with  the  full  ash  can,  for  her  offense  was 
slight,  but  he  must  give  no  quarter  to  the  burglar. 
And  if  he  is  not  partial  to  the  small  offender  he 
thereby,  whether  he  knows  it  or  not,  is  partial  to  the 
big  offender,  because  if  he  takes  himself  and  the 
owner  of  the  unmuzzled  dog  off  the  street,  he  thereby 
offers  free  opportunity  to  the  felon. 

There  are  only  a  given  number  of  policemen  in  any 
city.  They  must  be  used  with  skilled,  conscientious 
judgment  in  the  service  of  the  public.  They  must 
be  assigned  to  the  various  quarters  of  the  city  by 
such  methods,  and  in  such  numbers  as  shall  insure  to 
each  district  its  fair  quota.  They  must  also  be 
assigned  in  squads,  small  or  large  according  to  the 
needs,  with  the  duty  of  specializing  in  certain  par- 
ticular crimes  or  in  certain  special  localities  where 


Methods  of  Law  Enforcement         81 

crime  is  becoming  rampant.  These  men  cannot  fulfill 
the  purpose  for  which  they  are  assigned  if  they  allow 
themselves  to  be  diverted  from  the  quarry  on  whose 
scent  they  have  been  started,  in  order  to  turn  aside 
after  some  victim  who  is  comparatively  far  less 
dangerous  to  the  public. 

The  organization  must  be  for  the  sake  of  the  work ; 
often  we  find  it  rigged  the  other  way,  the  work  being 
made  subordinate,  and  being  neglected  unless  it  hap- 
pens to  be  covered  by  the  particular  methods  of  pro- 
cedure that  have  been  ordained.  The  distribution 
of  duties  must  cover  all  the  work  to  be  done,  at  the 
same  time  avoiding  the  clash  of  one  man's  job  with 
another's.  Responsibility  must  be  definitely  placed, 
by  clear  and  specific  orders,  and  adequate  discretion 
and  power  should  go  with  it.  Each  officer  must  be 
respected  and  supported  in  his  task;  his  superior 
must  not  cut  under  him,  must  not  give  directions 
over  his  head.  If  he  fails  to  perform  his  duty 
properly  he  can  be  removed,  but  so  long  as  he  is 
retained  in  his  position  he  should  be  recognized  as 
responsible,  his  subordinates  should  be  dealt  with 
only  through  him,  they  should  not  be  changed  except 
with  his  consent;  he  should  be  called  to  account  for 
their  faults  and  be  given  credit  for  their  merits.  He 
should  be  made  to  feel  that  his  position  is  his  as  long 
as  he  fills  it  capably,  and  that  success  in  it  will  lead 
to  something  higher.  And  the  whole  arrangement 


82  Policeman  and  Public 

and  administration  of  things  should  be  such  as  will 
bring  out  the  men's  best  efforts,  giving  them  pride  in 
their  profession  and  their  own  particular  niche  in 
it,  and  bringing  home  to  them  the  great  truth  that 
there  is  no  satisfaction  more  profound  and  permanent 
than  that  of  difficult  duty  ably  done. 


Esprit  de  Corps 

THERE  are  many  influences  in  police  life  which 
insidiously,  yet  continually,  operate  to  lower 
the  tone  and  sully  the  standards  of  the  men.  Some 
of  these  influences  which  have  a  surprisingly  potent 
effect,  might  seem  insignificant  to  a  superficial  view. 
Some  of  them,  particularly,  have  to  do  with  the  con- 
tact between  police  and  public  and  ought  therefore 
to  be  better  understood. 

To  illustrate,  consider  what  might  seem  a  small 
matter — the  question  of  politeness.  It  is  a  pleasing 
and  comforting  thing  to  have  a  polite  police  force; 
it  means  a  great  deal  to  the  public.  It  means  a 
great  deal  also  to  the  force,  for  persistent  politeness 
breeds  a  pleasant  spirit  within. 

We  are  very  ready  to  complain  when  we  find  a 
discourteous  policeman.  We  feel  that  even  though 
perhaps  we  cannot  expect  policemen  to  be  possessed 
of  wide  education  and  profound  learning,  yet  we  can 
demand  at  least  that  they  shall  be  reasonably  cour- 
teous. 

When  a  citizen  is  spoken  to  gruffly  or  rudely  by  a 


84  Policeman  and  Public 

traffic  officer,  he  is  properly  indignant,  and  is  right 
in  feeling  that  the  officer  has  no  business  to  speak 
that  way.  This  is  true,  and  the  indignation  is  justi- 
fied, but  should  it  not  be  remembered  also  that  very 
likely  the  last  few  drivers  the  policeman  had  to  speak 
to  were  surly  individuals,  who  would  not  have  thought 
he  meant  what  he  said  unless  he  had  used  some  crude, 
strong  brand  of  emphasis?  The  traffic  man  is  ex- 
pected not  only  to  enforce  the  regulations  upon  the 
roughest,  most  reckless  specimens  who  may  be  driv- 
ing along  the  street,  and  enforce  them  strongly  and 
effectively,  but  he  is  expected  also,  very  likely  within 
the  next  few  seconds,  tenderly  and  courteously  to 
help  a  feeble,  timid  old  lady  across  the  street.  It  is 
asking  a  good  deal  of  human  nature  always  to  adjust 
itself  to  such  changes  quickly  and  with  unruffled 
equanimity  of  temper. 

In  very  many  cases  the  public  does  not  help  the 
policeman  much;  people  often  show  little  under- 
standing and  frequently  they  seem  to  expect  special 
consideration.  One  day  a  new  plan  was  being  tried 
out  in  Times  Square  in  the  hope  that  people  afoot 
would  submit  to  being  regulated  a  bit  in  the  interest 
of  their  own  personal  safety.  On  one  corner  an 
officer  had  been  stationed  to  keep  pedestrians  from 
trying  to  cross  while  the  traffic  was  still  in  motion ; 
for  the  tendency  of  Americans  is  to  take  chances 
among  moving  vehicles,  in  the  calm  confidence  that 


Esprit  de  Corps  85 

the  crossing  will  be  made  safely,  somehow;  it  irks 
them  to  wait  behind  the  restraining  arm  of  the  police- 
man. 

The  traffic  had  just  started  up  and  the  officer  held 
out  his  arm  to  stop  a  woman  who  was  stepping 
unconcernedly  out  among  the  moving  wheels :  "Just 
one  moment,  lady ;  it  isn't  safe  to  go  across  now." 

The  lady  was  indignant :  "I  choose  to  cross  now. 
If  it  isn't  safe  stop  those  motors  long  enough  for  me 
to  go." 

"I'm  sorry,  ma'am,  but  I  must  ask  you  to  wait 
until  that  officer  out  there  stops  this  north  and  south 
traffic." 

Shortly  after  this,  the  traffic  stopped;  the  officer 
lowered  his  arm  and,  smiling  with  relief,  said :  "Now, 
lady,  it  is  all  right." 

"Huh,  anybody  can  go  across  now!"  she  retorted, 
and  swept  on  her  way. 

It  happened  that  a  few  days  after  this  the  Police 
Commissioner  received  through  the  mail  a  five-cent 
piece,  which  had  been  sent  by  another  woman  living 
in  Connecticut,  asking  that  it  be  returned  to  the  kind 
policeman  in  Times  Square  (describing  the  man)  who 
had  helped  her  so  much  and  had  loaned  her  carfare 
the  day  before  when  she  ran  out  of  money  in  New 
York. 

We  are  right  in  expecting  courtesy,  but  we  are 
often  wrong  in  allowing  ourselves  to  be  impatient 


86  Policeman  and  Public 

when  individual  policemen  err.  We  must  remember 
that  the  very  job  we  hire  the  policeman  to  perform 
brings  him  in  close  contact  with  the  worst  elements  in 
the  community.  He  has  to  deal  with  chronic  drunk- 
ards, moral  perverts,  yeggmen,  sneak  thieves,  drug 
fiends,  crazy  men;  we  hire  him  to  do  just  that,  to 
protect  us  from  peril  of  unprincipled  outlaws  and 
irresponsible  mental  defectives.  He  must  know  all 
about  such  persons  and  about  their  ways,  or  he  can- 
not keep  them  from  assaulting  and  robbing  and  gen- 
erally bothering  us.  This  sort  of  contact  doesn't 
especially  help  to  develop,  in  the  policeman,  gentle- 
ness in  thought  and  speech;  in  fact,  it  can  hardly 
help  having  a  contaminating,  lowering  effect  upon 
him.  He  sees  sordid  sides  of  life  that  most  people 
do  not  realize  the  existence  of,  and  he  has  to  do 
his  work,  month  in  and  month  out,  without  much 
respite,  among  these  conditions. 

It  behooves  good  citizens,  therefore,  to  be  patient, 
if  they  see  in  an  individual  policeman  some  of  the 
unpleasant  effects  of  his  association  with  the  very 
people  he  is  hired  to  keep  in  order.  If  the  public 
will  unfailingly  treat  the  policeman  with  the  polite- 
ness which  it  expects  from  him,  some  of  the  bad 
effects  of  his  contact  with  the  dreary,  outcast  sides  of 
life  will  be  neutralized.  This  cannot  be  too  strongly 
emphasized,  and  its  value  in  nourishing  the  self- 
respect  and  the  respectful  conduct  of  our  officials  is 


Esprit  de  Corps  87 

very  appreciable.  It  will  be  a  better  policeman  in 
every  way  that  has  his  intercourse  with  the  under 
world  mitigated  by  a  natural,  friendly  relationship 
with  those  whose  vital  interests  he  is  guarding. 

So  while  the  public  should  persist  in  demanding 
politeness  from  its  policemen,  it  should  also  take  into 
account  the  way  their  tasks  must  try  their  tempers 
and  mar  their  manners — and  make  allowances. 


Policemen  are  brave.  There  is  a  departmental 
instinct  of  courage.  This  spirit  is  maintained  by  the 
morale  of  the  men,  by  the  traditions  of  the  job.  A 
man  joining  the  force  quickly  catches  the  feeling 
that  it  is  no  place  for  a  coward;  that  life  would  not 
be  worth  living  if  he  should  acquire  a  reputation  for 
cowardice.  In  a  sense  he  dares  not  be  afraid.  This 
is  a  subtle  influence  which  must  be  jealously  guarded, 
for  it  is  vital  to  success  in  police  work. 

The  policeman  is  exposed  to  danger  in  ways  that 
are  not  commonly  realized.  It  is  danger  of  a  differ- 
ent kind,  for  instance,  from  that  which  the  soldier 
faces.  Troops  on  the  battle  line  run  terrific  risk 
from  the  enemy  in  front  of  them ;  they  are  shot  at 
with  rifle  and  machine  gun;  they  are  smothered  with 
poisonous  gases;  artillery,  light  and  heavy,  pounds 
their  position.  It  seems  impossible  that  human 
beings  could  exist  through  such  tornadoes  of  attack. 


88  Policeman  and  Public 

The  soldier,  however,  knows  his  enemy,  knows  how 
he  fights,  usually  knows  about  when  an  attack  is 
coming;  he  is  ready  for  it,  and  armed  to  resist  it. 

The  policeman,  on  the  other  hand,  does  not  know 
who  may  be  his  enemy,  and  he  must  not  be  too  quick 
to  conclude  that  anyone  is  hostile,  for  he  is  liable  to 
severe  penalties  if  he  uses  force  when  it  is  not  abso- 
lutely necessary,  in  self-defense,  or  to  make  an  arrest. 
He  is  a  peace  officer  and  would  make  himself  absurd 
if  he  appeared  warlike,  or  if  he  took  too  many  pre- 
cautions; yet  often  dangerous  criminals  and  even 
assassins  do  not  reveal  their  hideous  purpose  until 
too  late  to  thwart  it. 

One  spring  morning,  for  instance,  a  bicycle  police- 
man was  patrolling  his  post  in  the  northwestern  part 
of  Manhattan  Borough.  It  was  very  early;  no  one 
was  about  in  that  part  of  the  city  except  a  few  milk- 
men. The  policeman  had  for  some  months  been 
under  treatment  for  heart  trouble,  and  after  explain- 
ing his  case  to  the  Police  Commissioner,  had  been 
transferred  from  motorcycle  duty,  with  its  risks  and 
the  excitement  of  chasing  motor  speeders,  to  this 
quiet  residential  quarter,  where  there  was  seldom 
trouble  and  seldom  excitement.  It  was  his  third  day 
in  the  precinct. 

As  he  came  slowly  down  the  avenue  he  noticed  an 
automobile  stationary  at  the  curb  ahead.  On  draw- 
ing nearer  he  thought  that  the  license  number  was 


Esprit  de  Corps  89 

that  of  a  lost  car  which  his  platoon  had  been  notified 
to  watch  out  for,  when  they  went  on  duty  at  mid- 
night. A  young  man  and  a  girl  were  standing  beside 
it,  about  to  get  aboard. 

"Just  a  moment,  sir,"  he  called  out,  "I  want  to 
take  a  look  at  that  car." 

The  only  answer  was  a  shot.  He  was  hit  in  the 
shoulder  and  knocked  down.  While  down,  he  pulled 
his  own  gun  and  fired,  but  the  thief  had  shot  him 
again,  in  the  hip,  had  jumped  into  the  car  and  started 
up  the  avenue  at  high  speed.  The  policeman  tried, 
but  could  not  follow. 

He  lingered  in  the  hospital  a  few  weeks,  full  of 
courage,  full  of  gratitude  to  those  who  tried  to  help 
him.  Then  he  died.  A  noble  life  had  been  spent  in 
the  effort  to  recover  a  stolen  motor  car. 

This  sort  of  danger  the  police  officer  is  exposed 
to  on  every  hour  of  duty.  He  cannot  accost  citizens, 
pistol  in  hand;  he  takes  a  chance,  and  too  often  has 
to  pay  the  penalty.  How  can  he  tell  that  the  harm- 
1<  >>-looking  anajmic  man  who  is  approaching  him 
apparently  to  ask  a  question  is  a  drug  lunatic,  a 
"charged  up  dope,"  as  the  vernacular  has  it?  How 
can  he  know  that  in  another  minute  he  will  be  fight- 
ing for  his  life  with  a  creature  superlnnnanly  strong 
and  superhumanly  cunning?  Even  when  they  know 
what  sort  of  men  they  have  to  deal  with  the  bravest 
and  handiest  officers  might  easily  be  nervous  and 


90  Policeman  and  Public 

uncertain  of  themselves  with  dope  fiends,  for  there 
is  no  telling  what  their  moods  may  be,  and  their 
powers  often  seem  unnatural. 

+  It  sometimes  seems  to  policemen  that  the  public 
takes  it  all  for  granted,  that  no  one  knows  or  cares 
what  risks  they  run.  Yet,  without  the  purest  quality 
of  physical  courage,  a  police  force  could  not  fulfill  its 
purpose,  and  the  public  should  realize  this,  and  be 
quick  to  foster  the  spirit  by  recognizing  its  exist- 
ence in  the  force,  and  by  showing  that,  although 
bravery  is  taken  for  granted  in  policemen,  it  is  also 
applauded  and  generously  rewarded. 

With  the  tradition  of  courage  in  police  forces  has 
been  developed  the  coordinate  tradition  of  standing 
together.  This  also  is  a  glorious  tradition,  and  is 
essential  to  successful  work.  It  fosters  team  play; 
it  engenders  mutual  helpfulness ;  it  adds  to  an  indi- 
vidual the  strength  of  all  his  comrades  who  may  be 
within  hearing  distance ;  it  gives  to  each  policeman  a 
sense  of  confidence  which  at  times  on  lonesome  posts 
he  might  not  otherwise  feel,  for  every  man  knows  that 
if  he  blows  his  whistle  or  raps  on  the  pavement  with 
his  night  stick,  any  brother  officer  within  hearing 
will  come  running  to  his  aid.  Though  out  of  sight, 
he  knows  that  blue-coated  helpers  are  within  hearing 
and  that  they  will  come  at  the  call  of  danger. 
^-  It  is  difficult  for  civilians  fully  to  grasp  what  it 
means  to  be  on  a  post  by  oneself,  armed  with  night 


Esprit  de  Corps  91 

stick  and  revolver,  and  to  realize  that  single-handed 
one  must  cope  with  any  trouble  that  comes  along, 
even  with  a  group  of  criminals  who  would  not  stop  at 
murder  to  carry  out  their  purpose.  The  policeman 
is  alone  during  most  of  his  official  life,  and  he  could 
not  begin  to  do  his  duty  were  it  not  that  his  profes- 
sion compels  courage  and  that  the  brand  of  com- 
radeship between  him  and  his  brother  officers  is  of 
such  a  high,  helpful  character. 

Unfortunately  we  find  in  police  forces,  that 
whereas  the  dangers  and  the  lonesomeness  of  the  work 
develop  clean  physical  courage  and  an  unflinching 
spirit  of  standing  together,  yet  something  has  a 
thoroughly  bad  effect  upon  the  moral  courage  of 
the  men.  It  is  not  fair  to  assert,  as  has  been  done, 
that  moral  courage  in  police  forces  is  as  definitely 
absent  as  physical  courage  is  strikingly  present;  we 
must  not  blink  at  the  fact,  however,  that  the  moral 
tone  of  many  American  police  forces  is  low. 

The  way  in  which  policemen  could  always  prove  an 
alibi  when  they  got  into  trouble  has  been  rather  a 
joke.  There  were  sure  to  be  brother  officers  who 
would  swear  they  were  somewhere  else,  doing  some- 
thing else. 

It  makes  a  serious  situation  when  police  officers 
can  not  be  believed  in  court.  In  many  cases  a 
trial  resolves  itself  simply  into  the  word  of  the 
officer  against  that  of  the  defendant.  If  the  judge 


92  Policeman  and  Public 

or  jury  feels  that  the  sworn  testimony  of  the  officer 
of  the  law  cannot  be  believed,  justice  may  become 
only  skilled  guesswork.  The  policeman  must  be 
reliable,  must  speak  the  truth,  the  whole  truth  and 
nothing  but  the  truth.  The  public  should  never  be 
satisfied  until  the  character  of  the  men  and  the  effect 
of  the  leadership  are  such  that  the  individual  police- 
man can  be  believed  when  he  testifies. 

A  few  years  ago  a  deputy  commissioner  in  New 
York  on  a  trip  of  inspection  found  asleep  in  bed,  with 
most  of  his  clothes  off,  the  lieutenant  who  should 
have  been  in  full  uniform  on  duty  behind  the  desk. 
This  lieutenant  was  brought  to  trial.  The  deputy 
commissioner  testified  that  upon  failing  to  find  any 
lieutenant  at  the  desk  he  had  gone  upstairs  to  the 
room  assigned  to  lieutenants,  which  was  dark,  the 
gas  not  being  lighted.  The  lieutenant  was  in  bed 
asleep.  This  testimony  was  corroborated  by  that 
of  another  lieutenant,  who  was  accompanying  the 
deputy  commissioner. 

The  defendant  took  the  stand,  was  solemnly  sworn 
to  tell  the  truth,  and  testified  that  whereas  he  was 
not  behind  the  desk  and  was  upstairs  in  his  bedroom, 
yet  the  gas  was  lighted,  he  was  not  asleep,  was  not 
lying  in  bed,  but  was  sitting  on  the  edge  of  the  bed, 
bathing  his  feet  in  hot  water,  as  he  had  been  in- 
structed to  do  in  the  hope  of  warding  off  an  incipient 
cold! 


Esprit  de  Corps  93 

In  speaking  about  policemen's  untruthfulness,  a 
veteran  policeman  made  the  remark:  "Why,  we  had 
to  lie.  Nothing  else  was  safe.  It  was  a  case  of  self- 
protection  ;  if  anything  went  wrong  we  were  always 
made  the  goat.  We  were  never  believed  anyway,  so 
the  only  thing  to  do  was  to  make  out  the  best  story 
we  could.  The  bosses  expected  us  to  lie.  They 
would  have  had  paralysis  if  we  didn't." 

There  can  be  no  question  about  the  improvement 
in  the  tone  of  police  forces  in  the  past  few  years, 
just  as  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  improve- 
ment of  the  tone  of  public  life  in  America.  The  evil 
tradition  persists  in  police  forces,  however,  for  the 
profession  makes  men  cautious  and  suspicious,  and 
they  are  apt  to  follow  the  old  methods  unless  they 
are  confident  it  is  safe  to  be  truthful. 

Example  as  well  as  experience  corrupts  them. 
Even  nowadays  policemen  may  see  lawyers  in  good 
standing  at  the  bar,  carefully  framing  perjured 
•  vidence.  They  also  see  judges  listening  to  the 
whispers  of  influential  friends  of  the  accused  and 
guiding  their  judicial  conduct  accordingly.  They 
have  the  personal  experience  of  being  offered  bribes 
to  be  false  to  their  sworn  duty.  All  this  miserable 
business  has  been  a  larger  part  of  their  lives  than 
it  is  of  the  lives  of  perhaps  any  other  class  of 
men  in  the  community,  and  its  tendency  is  to 
make  flabby  the  moral  fibre;  to  blur  the  distinctions 


94  Policeman  and  Public 

between  right  and  wrong;  to  make  them  believe  that 
unworthy  conduct,  low  motives,  grossly  utilitarian 
principles,  stealing  and  cheating  under  the  protec- 
tion of  counsel,  are  far  more  common  in  the  world 
than  other  people  believe  them  to  be. 

Truth-telling  is  a  basic  quality.  Police  forces  can- 
not render  proper  service  to  a  city  unless  they  are 
sound  in  this  fundamental. 

One  point  about  this,  to  which  the  public  is  not 
apt  to  give  full  weight,  is  the  fact  that,  though  sin- 
ning, the  untruthful  policeman  is  also  sinned  against, 
for  often  the  conditions  under  which  he  works  make 
truth-telling  dangerous.  There  has  been  a  notable 
improvement  in  this  in  New  York;  the  men  have 
learned  that  they  could  rely  on  the  good  faith  and 
fairness  of  the  administration,  with  the  result  that 
when  the  disciplinary  trial  day  came  round,  instead 
of  having  an  unbroken  succession  of  "Not  guilty" 
pleas,  from  guilty  as  well  as  innocent,  with  a  room- 
ful of  defending  lawyers,  the  calendar  would  be  run 
through  with  some  ninety  per  cent  of  pleas  of  guilty, 
the  defendant  policeman,  unrepresented  by  counsel, 
simply  stating  the  facts  and  whatever  excuses  he 
might  have,  in  confidence  that  he  would  be  justly 
treated  by  the  deputy  commissioner  sitting  in  judg- 
ment. 

The  bravery  of  policemen  is  so  genuine  and  splen- 
did, and  their  support  of  each  other,  no  matter  how 


Esprit  de  Corps  95 

menacing  the  physical  danger,  so  inspiring,  that  one 
cannot  but  feel  that  these  perversions  of  the  spirit 
are  unnatural,  forced  growths,  which  must  inevitably 
be  sloughed  off  as  intolerable  and  inconsistent,  leav- 
ing a  body  of  men,  brave  as  lions,  true  to  each  other, 
and  true  to  the  highest  standards  of  honor. 


VI 

Reward  and  Punishment 

THE  great  aim  of  policemen,  like  most  people, 
is  to  get  ahead  in  the  world.  They  want  pro- 
gressively better  pay;  they  want  promotion.  Now, 
promotion  in  a  police  force,  as  in  any  other  body  of 
human  beings,  should  come  to  those  who  have  shown 
themselves  most  deserving  of  it  and  best  qualified  to 
fill  the  higher  positions.  When  the  head  of  a  police 
department  appoints  a  new  captain,  for  instance, 
he  should  pick  the  one  man  among  the  lieutenants 
who,  by  his  work,  has  shown  himself  the  most  likely 
to  make  a  good  captain.  The  qualities  most  needed 
in  a  commanding  officer  are  integrity,  loyalty,  the 
power  of  leadership,  initiative,  aggressiveness,  cour- 
age, and  it  is  natural  to  expect  that  men  would  be 
promoted  from  lower  to  higher  grades  in  accordance 
with  the  degree  of  these  indispensable  qualities  which 
in  the  performance  of  duty  they  have  shown 
themselves  to  possess. 

In  forces  where  promotion  is  made  according  to 
civil  service  systems  nothing  of  this  is  true.  A  man 
attains  promotion  without  any  reference  to  the 


Reward  and  Punishment  97 

quality  of  his  day-by-day  work.  It  makes  no  differ- 
ence whether  the  patrolman  on  post  in  front  of  your 
house  is  always  on  duty,  never  yielding,  no  matter 
how  rough  or  bleak  the  weather,  to  the  temptation 
of  going  inside  for  a  few  minutes,  always  alert  for 
suspicious  characters,  always  polite  and  kindly  with 
women  and  children,  always  watchful  to  help  people 
across  the  street  so  that  they  shall  not  run  any  risk 
of  being  knocked  down  by  motor  cars,  always  ready 
to  answer  questions, — that  patrolman,  in  spite  of 
the  very  high  grade  of  work  he  does  week  after  week, 
month  after  month,  year  after  year,  stands  no  better 
chance  for  promotion  because  of  this  work  than  a 
brother  officer  who  may  be  only  two  or  three  blocks 
away,  who  ducks  into  a  hospitable  kitchen  as  soon  as 
he  can  after  the  sergeant  has  gone  by,  who  never 
bothers  about  helping  people,  who  lets  things  run 
their  own  course,  who  turns  the  other  way  or  around 
the  corner  if  it  looks  as  though  he  might  be  called 
upon  to  take  some  kind  of  action,  who  does,  in  short^ 
just  as  little  police  work  as  he  can  possibly  do  and 
yet  keep  out  of  trouble.  The  first  of  these  two  men, 
anyone  will  say,  is  the  man  who  should  be  promoted ; 
the  second  should  certainly  not  be  promoted  and 
should  probably  be  dismissed. 

Yet  the  second,  by  study — and  he  may  have  more 
time  for  study  than  the  other  man,  by  stealing  it  from 
duty — may  pass  a  better  examination ;  may  have 


98  Policeman  and  Public 

what  is,  according  to  the  civil  service  system,  counted 
as  an  advantage,  a  few  extra  years  of  service;  may 
have  stopped  a  runaway  one  day  with  witnesses  pres- 
ent and  received  a  departmental  reward,  and  may 
easily  land  on  the  list  a  hundred  places  higher  than 
the  other.  For  the  civil  service  method  usually  takes 
into  consideration  only  three  things :  seniority ; 
record  as  shown  by  fines  received  as  departmental 
discipline  and  by  awards  received  for  deeds  of 
courage ;  success  at  passing  a  written  examination. 

Seniority  gives  a  higher  rating  to  the  man  who  has 
been  longer  on  the  job.  The  theory  of  this  must  be 
that  if  one  man  has  been  patrolman  for  ten  years  and 
the  other  for  only  five,  the  ten-year  man  would  make 
a  better  sergeant  than  the  other.  There  seems  to  be 
not  the  slightest  warrant  for  this  conclusion.  If 
anything,  the  man  who  has  been  longer  in  the  grade, 
who  has  failed  to  get  promotion  in  spite  of  more 
chances,  is  less  fit  for  promotion  than  the  younger 
man.  Many  a  young,  active,  capable  man  fails  of 
promotion  simply  because  he  has  not  plodded  along 
the  pavement  as  long  as  someone  else. 

The  man's  record,  if  it  were  really  a  record  of  his 
actual  performance  of  duty  and  reflected  the  kind 
of  work  he  had  been  doing,  should  be  a  dominant 
factor  in  determining  promotion.  If  his  record 
showed  what  kind  of  policeman  he  was,  whether  con- 
scientious, loyal,  honest,  aggressive,  courteous,  or 


Reward  and  Punishment  99 

not — then  it  would  be  a  real  record.  However,  the 
record  shows  nothing  of  this.  Until  within  the  past 
few  years  in  New  York  nothing  has  counted  in 
favor  of  a  man  except  duly  attested  deeds  of  bravery. 
In  other  words,  the  only  way  a  man  could  get  good 
marks  on  his  record  was  by  stopping  a  runaway, 
saving  a  drowning  man,  rescuing  someone  from  a  fire, 
and  being  able  to  prove  that  he  had  done  so. 

Bravery  is  the  commonest  quality  in  the  force. 
A  deed  of  bravery  is  done  by  a  policeman,  not  because 
he  is  braver  than  other  policemen,  but  because  he 
happened  to  have  the  opportunity.  There  is  not  a 
man  who  would  not  take  risks  of  being  hurt  badly 
for  the  sake  of  making  a  rescue.  It  is  a  matter  far 
more  of  lucky  opportunity  than  of  distinguishing 
physical  courage.  It  is  in  a  way  an  accidental  ele- 
ment in  a  man's  record,  showing  that  some  men  had 
chances  that  others  did  not,  rather  than  that  some 
men  were  braver  than  others. 

A  few  years  ago  in  addition  to  this  the  Civil  Ser- 
vice Commission  in  New  York  City  was  persuaded 
to  give  recognition  to  commendable  deeds  of  police 
service  which  did  not  necessarily  involve  physical 
courage.  As  a  result  of  this  change  a  detective 
could  receive  commendation  if  after  weeks  of 
resourceful,  tireless  work  he  ran  down  a  master 
criminal;  or  a  patrolman  might  receive  an  award  if, 
after  careful  thought,  he  made  a  suggestion  to  the 


100  Policeman  and  Public 

Police  Commissioner  which  was  new  and  which  would 
help  the  efficiency  of  the  force ;  or  a  policeman  might 
be  helped  in  his  chances  for  promotion  if,  while 
on  responsible  duty,  he  remained  steadfast,  proof 
against  bribe,  proof  against  the  wiles  of  those  who 
sought  to  remove  him  from  his  post,  firm  in  perform- 
ing his  duty  exactly  as  it  should  be  performed.  This 
has  been  a  move  in  the  right  direction.  It  is  far, 
however,  from  even  beginning  to  meet  the  evil  situa- 
tion, for  the  system  is  not  comprehensive,  it  is  largely 
a  matter  of  opportunity,  and  there  is  no  certainty 
that  proper  recognition  will  be  given  to  a  man  who 
just  steadily  and  unwaveringly  does  his  regular 
duty  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  without  having  any 
particular  things  occur  which  stand  out  and  can 
bring  particular  commendation.  It  might  happen 
that  the  reputation  such  a  man  would  acquire  in 
the  neighborhood  would  even  lessen  his  chance  of 
being  called  upon  to  quell  trouble,  since  his  name 
as  a  fearless,  capable  officer  would  tend  to  prevent 
such  things  from  happening  on  his  post. 

The  only  things  that  blacken  a  man's  record  are 
the  number  of  days'  pay  he  has  been  fined  as  the 
result  of  appearing  on  charges  before  the  trial 
deputy  commissioner.  These  penalties  should  cer- 
tainly be  given  consideration.  They  are,  however, 
merely  one  factor  in  the  record,  though  in  many  cases 
they  become  a  disqualifying  one.  A  fine  of  thirty 


Reward  and  Punishment  101 

days'  pay  would  probably  mean  that  the  unfortu- 
nate man  could  not  get  promotion,  at  any  rate  for 
years,  yet  the  fine  may  have  been  unjust  or,  although 
just,  unduly  severe;  or  in  spite  of  the  fine,  assuming 
that  it  was  wholly  deserved,  that  patrolman  may 
nevertheless,  on  account  of  his  other  qualifications, 
be  excellent  timber  for  promotion.  At  best,  fines  on 
a  man's  record  are  casual,  are  in  large  measure  acci- 
dental. As  a  method  of  grading,  they  are  not  com- 
prehensive, since  they  cannot  impartially  and  by  the 
same  standard  affect  every  man  on  the  force.  They 
fail  glaringly  to  separate  the  sheep  from  the  goats. 
For  besides  searching  out  and  smirching  the  record 
of  many  a  man  who  yet  merits  advancement,  they 
fail  to  search  out  and  record  large  numbers  of  those 
who  are  unfit  to  be  promoted  and  perhaps  even  to 
stay  on  the  force.  If  a  policeman  can  avoid  being 
brought  up  on  charges  and  fined,  it  is  no  matter  how 
poor  his  work  is.  His  superiors  may  know  he  shirks, 
his  comrades  may  be  fully  cognizant  of  his  loafing, 
don't-care  methods,  the  neighborhood  may  suspect 
both  his  integrity  and  his  competence,  yet  if  he  can 
steer  his  slipshod  course  so  as  to  avoid  fines,  his 
official  record  is  just  as  unsullied  as  that  of  the  most 
conscientious  patrolman  on  the  force. 

This  method  of  record  keeping,  therefore,  and  the 
system  of  using  such  a  record  as  part  of  the  civil 
service  test  for  promotion  mean,  practically,  that 


102  Policeman  and  Public 

excellence  or  mediocrity  of  police  work  does  not  affect 
priority  of  promotion. 

How  can  the  public  expect  that  policemen  will 
show  a  persistent  devotion  to  duty  when  such  per- 
sistence profits  them  not  at  all  except  as  they  are 
spoken  to  with  approval  by  the  still  small  voice? 
How  can  the  public  blame  a  policeman  for  being  lazy 
and  neglectful,  for  shirking  duty,  for  stealing  as 
much  time  from  his  job  as  he  can  if,  as  is  the  case, 
such  conduct  does  not  interfere  with  his  getting  the 
reward  of  promotion?  Is  he  not  almost  justified  in 
feeling  that,  in  a  way,  the  stamp  of  official  approval 
is  placed  on  such  conduct,  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  made 
a  hindrance  to  the  goal  of  his  ambition? 

The  third  element  in  the  civil  service  test  is  a  writ- 
ten examination,  which  is  given,  not  by  the  police 
authorities,  but  by  a  special  commission.  Such  an 
examination  is  useful,  stimulates  study,  and,  although 
there  is  always  a  large  element  of  luck  in  examina- 
tions, can  show  much  of  the  comparative  knowledge 
of  laws,  regulations,  procedure,  etc.,  on  the  part  of 
the  different  candidates.  As  far  as  it  goes  it  is  a 
valuable  criterion.  If  the  written  examination  could 
be  considered  in  connection  with  real  records  of  the 
men's  regular  performance  of  duty  it  would  be  of 
distinct  rating  value.  As  it  is,  however,  the  examina- 
tion puts  a  premium  on  the  student  policeman  over 
the  practical  policeman ;  further,  unless  conducted  in 


Reward  and  Punishment  103 

an  elaborately  scrupulous  way  by  incorruptible 
examiners  it  makes  the  way  easy  to  bribery,  and 
taints  the  whole  system. 

This  is  the  way  a  policeman  is  graded.  This  is 
the  only  method  of  attaining  his  great  ambition. 
For  promotion  brings  with  it  not  merely  the  distinc- 
tion of  higher  rank  and  the  welcome  larger  pay 
check,  but  also  the  certainty  of  a  larger  pension 
upon  retirement.  And  promotion  seems  to  come, 
not  to  the  man  who  has  shown  his  courage,  his  stal- 
wart honesty,  his  strong  initiative,  his  power  to 
handle  men,  and  his  zeal  in  doing  his  whole  duty,  but 
to  the  man  who  has  been  longer  on  the  job,  who, 
though  shirking  and  shiftless  at  his  daily  work, 
managed  to  avoid  departmental  discipline,  and  who, 
by  the  help  of  hired  professional  tutors,  wrote  a 
juvtty  good  examination.  The  public,  therefore,\ 
must  not  complain  if  few  of  its  police  servants  prove  I 
to  be  of  the  earnest,  hard-working,  resourceful  type, 
for  it  fails  to  hold  out  effective  inducement  to  them. 

The  situation  is  as  if  the  general  manager  of  a 
large  industry  were  to  gather  together  his  thousands 
of  workers  and  address  them  as  follows : 

"Fellow  Citizens :  I  have  called  you  here  this  after- 
noon to  make  clear  to  you  just  what  it  is  that  this 
company  expects  of  you,  and  to  explain  to  you  how 
you  should  conduct  yourselves  in  order  to  have  the 


104  Policeman  and  Public 

best  chance  of  getting  more  salary  and  more 
responsible  positions. 

"Watch  the  clock  carefully  and  don't  begin  a 
moment  before  the  hour  or  keep  on  a  moment  after. 
Do  your  work  well  enough  to  avoid  complaint,  but 
don't  put  any  more  thought  or  time  on  it  than  is 
necessary  simply  to  keep  you  out  of  trouble. 

"If  you  have  any  extra  time,  and  you  will  have  it 
as  soon  as  you  learn  how  little  you  can  do  and  still 
'get  by,'  take  a  nap  or  gossip  with  the  other  men 
around  you. 

"Keep  out  of  trouble ;  I  can't  impress  this  on  you 
too  strongly.  And  you  are  just  as  likely  to  get  in 
trouble  by  trying  to  do  too  much  as  you  are  if  you 
do  too  little,  and  perhaps  a  little  more  so. 

"Always  have  a  good  excuse  ready  and  usually  you 
will  find  it  works.  If  you  don't  know  any  good  ones, 
ask  one  of  the  older  hands  here  and  he  will  give  you 
some  cracker- jack  excuses  that  have  stood  the  test 
of  time. 

"When  we  promote  people  here  we  don't  pay  any 
attention  to  the  kind  of  work  they  have  done,  or  how 
regular  and  faithful  they  have  been  on  the  job;  in 
fact,  we  wash  our  hands  of  the  whole  business ;  we 
don't  want  to  be  bothered  with  it.  We  don't  think  it 
makes  any  difference  whether  we  promote  the  best 
men  among  you  or  the  worst. 

"So  some  outsiders  come  in  who  don't  know  much 


Reward  and  Punishment  105 

of  anything  about  our  work  here,  it  is  true,  but  they 
will  give  you  an  examination  and  it  will  be  a  pretty 
good  one.  They  will  also  find  out  how  long  you  have 
been  here  and  whether  you  got  in  one  or  two  special 
kinds  of  trouble  that  the  older  hands  will  explain  to 
you  how  to  keep  out  of,  and  they  will  ask  also 
whether  you  have  saved  anyone's  life  or  done  any- 
thing of  that  kind  that  people  have  talked  about; 
then  they  will  go  off  and  after  three  or  four  or  five 
months  will  send  us  in  a  list. 

"We  will  take  the  men  in  order  from  the  top  of  the 
list,  no  matter  what  we  know  about  them;  no  matter 
whether  we  know  some  of  those  high  up  are  no  good 
and  some  of  those  low  down  are  the  best  in  the  con- 
cern. It  is  a  funny  sort  of  system,  isn't  it, — but  it 
goes !" 

A  good  deal  has  been  said,  with  reference  to  the 
administration  of  police  forces,  to  the  effect  that  the 
head  of  the  force  has  not  power  enough  over  the  men. 
He  should  have,  it  is  often  contended,  greater  powers 
of  discipline,  easier  ways  of  getting  rid  of  men  who 
are  not  fit  to  be  policemen,  yet  who  cannot  legally  be 
discharged  through  the  existing  methods.  Not 
much  emphasis  has  been  laid  on  the  other  side  of  the 
question,  upon  the  lack  of  power  of  the  Police  Com- 
missioner to  reward  men  for  good  work. 

There  must  be  discipline.  The  Commissioner  must 
have  power  to  take  proper  disciplinary  measures 


106  Policeman  and  Public 

against  those  members  of  the  force  who  have  been 
dishonest  or  who  have  shirked.  Of  far  greater  impor- 
tance is  it,  however,  that  he  should  have  the  power 
to  reward  the  men  who  have  done  good  work,  that  he 
should  be  able  to  make  it  clear  to  all  that  the  good 
things  of  the  job,  the  things  they  all  want,  are  things 
they  can  attain  by  performing  their  duty  conscien- 
tiously. If  a  Police  Commissioner  had  some  approach 
to  an  adequate  power  of  reward  he  would  not  need 
to  bother  about  his  power  to  punish.  You  will  have 
but  mediocre  performance  of  duty  in  any  organiza- 
tion if  you  withhold  reward  and  are  free  only  with 
punishment.  If  you  reverse  the  tables,  however,  and 
are  liberal  with  reward  you  will  find  that  there  will 
be  comparatively  little  occasion  for  punishment.  In 
forces  where  good  work  is  regularly  recognized  and 
rewarded  it  is  thereby  encouraged  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  becomes  the  characteristic  of  the  force,  and 
a  morale  is  developed  which  animates  every  member 
to  do  the  kind  of  work  that  has  brought  praise  and 
substantial  recognition  from  superiors  and  the  com- 
munity. No  really  fine  results  were  ever  achieved 
by  men  whose  only  incentive  was  fear  of  punishment ; 
and  it  can  probably  be  said  categorically  that  credit- 
able work  will  always  be  done  in  an  organization 
where  it  is  prevailingly  recognized  and  generously 
rewarded.  Police  forces  suffer  from  the  stagnation 
of  lack  of  incentive.  The  men  see  no  reward  for 


Reward  and  Punishment  107 

effort.  The  only  surprise  that  the  public  is  justified 
in  expressing  is  that  the  quality  of  the  work  is  as 
high  as  it  is,  considering  the  absence  of  inducement. 

How  should  this  reward  be  given?  What  change 
should  be  made  in  the  civil  service  system  of  promo- 
tion? For  admission  to  the  force  probably  no  one 
would  contend  that  the  system  should  be  changed. 
It  is  undoubtedly  about  as  good  a  method  as  any 
other  for  picking  out  qualified  candidates,  for  the 
men  come  from  all  walks  of  life,  and  seemingly  from 
every  profession,  trade,  and  job  there  is.  No  com- 
parative record  could  be  obtained,  nor  could  the 
judgment  of  employers  fairly  be  used  to  distinguish 
between  one  man  and  another,  since  there  might  be 
a  thousand  different  employers  for  a  thousand 
applicants,  and  as  many  varying  standards  as 
employers. 

Promotion,  however,  is  different.  Candidates  for 
promotion  have  all  worked  on  the  force,  they  have 
all  been  doing  police  duty,  they  have  all  had  the 
chance  to  show  whether  they  are  good  at  it  or  not. 
It  is  possible  to  find  out  whether  they  have  been 
faithful  policemen  or  unfaithful,  whether  they  have 
been  honest  or  dishonest,  loyal  or  disloyal,  workers 
or  shirkers,  polite  and  helpful  or  surly  and  selfish. 
This  should  be  ascertained,  by  some  sound  method, 
and  should  govern  promotion. 

Two  plans  are  commonly  mentioned  as  alterna- 


108  Policeman  and  Public 

tives  to  the  civil  service  system  of  promotion,  one 
giving  the  power  of  promotion  to  the  Police  Com- 
missioner, the  other  devising  a  real  record  which 
is  a  reflection  of  the  men's  daily  work  instead  of  a 
compilation  of  a  few  elements  in  that  work. 

Much  thought  and  effort  has  been  devoted  to  try- 
ing to  devise  such  a  system  of  record-keeping,  but 
as  yet  with  only  moderately  successful  results.  The 
way  has  not  been  found  to  make  records  which  shall 
accurately  make  allowances  for  differences  in  duty. 
How  can  we  make  a  comparative  record,  for  instance, 
of  the  work  of  men  in  busy,  crowded  districts,  with 
that  in  thinly  settled,  country  regions?  Continued, 
skilled  effort  along  these  lines,  however,  cannot  fail 
to  bring  about  better  methods  of  rating,  and  each 
improvement,  no  matter  how  slight,  is  well  worth 
while,  for  it  is  direct  encouragement  to  conscientious 
performance  of  duty. 

The  objection  is  raised  to  the  other  of  these  plans 
that  it  might  work  well  under  a  competent  adminis- 
tration, but  would  be  risky  with  a  political  or  other- 
wise undesirable  head  of  the  force.  The  objection 
is  undoubtedly  valid  to  a  certain  extent.  The  plan 
should  not  be  rejected,  however,  without  carefully 
considering  whether  good  administration  is  not 
attained  only  by  taking  certain  risks,.  If  we  are  so 
apprehensive  as  to  the  character  of  the  men  who  may 
lead  our  police  forces  that  we  dare  not  invest  the 


Reward  and  Punishment  109 

office  with  the  power  which  it  should  have  if  they 
could  be  trusted  to  wield  it,  then  we  must  realize 
that  in  curbing  the  powers  for  evil  of  an  evil  man, 
we  may  be  hopelessly  shackling  the  powers  for  good 
of  a  worthy  man.  May  it  not  be  wiser  to  clothe  the 
office  with  such  wide  powers  that  there  shall  be  no 
doubt  as  to  who  deserves  the  credit  in  case  the  work 
is  well  done,  or  as  to  who  is  responsible,  and  solely 
responsible,  in  case  the  standard  of  performance  falls 
in  any  way  low? 

After  the  head  of  a  large  police  force  had  been  in 
office  for  a  few  years  he  should  be  able  with  very  few 
mistakes  to  pick  the  men  whose  work  had  distin- 
guished them  beyond  their  fellows.  His  judgment 
COUK  be  checked  and  his  motives  scrutinized,  if 
deemed  necessary,  by  having  the  civil  service  author- 
ities examine  his  nominees,  and  reject  them  or  certify 
to  their  fitness.  This  is  the  practice  in  some  cities 
and  seems  to  work  very  well. 

As  soon  as  it  dawned  upon  the  force  that  such  men 
were  being  picked  for  promotion  you  would  see  your 
police  force  develop  in  a  surprising  way,  for  every 
ambitious  man  on  it,  with  a  sigh  of  relief,  would  settle 
down  to  work.  The  lifelefcsness  of  the  job,  the  "what's 
the  use"  attitude,  would  disappear,  and  the  moral 
courage  of  the  men  would  be  stiffened  and  emboldened. 


VII 

Grafting 

MANY  stories  have  been  told  about  police 
graft, — so  many  that  one  is  led  to  conclude 
that  almost  all  policemen  are  gentle  grafters  when 
they  get  the  chance.  This  is  not  the  fact,  for  two 
reasons:  in  the  first  place,  the  majority  of  policemen 
are  just  as  honest  as  the  majority  of  other  people, 
and  would  not  reach  down  for  the  dishonest  dollar 
any  more  than  other  people  would;  secondly,  most 
policemen  do  not  have  any  more  golden  opportuni- 
ties for  graft  than  anyone  else. 

This  grafting  is  just  a  case  of  having  wares  for 
sale, — the  wares  being  privileges  to  violate  some  law. 
Most  policemen  covering  their  posts,  walking  up  and 
down  with  no  trouble  in  sight,  have  no  opportunity 
to  sell  permission  to  break  a  law  because  no  one  comes 
along  who  especially  wants  to  break  one.  In  the  good 
old  days,  however,  when  the  public  and  the  press 
were  not  so  particular  about  the  conduct  of  public 
officials,  and  didn't  know  so  much  about  it,  detectives, 
whose  duties  confined  them  to  no  mere  barren  post, 
but  covered  the  city,  were  in  a  position  to  sell  per- 


Grafting  111 

mission  to  operate.  And,  the  story  has  it,  profes- 
sional thieves,  the  real  top-notchers,  would  not  prac- 
tise in  a  city  unless  they  could  first  quiet  their  nerves 
by  coming  to  an  understanding  with  the  police. 
Even  nowadays,  citizens  should  be  suspicious  of  the 
honesty  of  their  force  if  they  find  that  an  increasing 
number  of  professional  thieves  are  at  work  in  their 
town.  This  is  especially  true  of  crooks  who  play 
for  high  stakes,  like  wire-tappers  and  other  con- 
fidence men  and  swindlers. 

The  usual  form  of  graft  consists  in  the  payment 
of  money  directly,  though  sometimes  with  marvelous 
indirection,  to  officers  of  the  law  by  individuals  who 
wish  to  break  some  law  and  be  immune  from  punish- 
ment or  by  individuals  who  have  already  broken  a 
law  and  wish  to  make  it  right  with  the  policeman  so 
as  to  avoid  arrest.  The  policeman,  as  we  have  seen, 
is  judge  in  the  court  of  first  instance.  He  has  the 
power,  if  he  is  ready  to  risk  being  found  out,  to 
refrain  from  arresting  a  lawbreaker,  provided  the 
lawbreaker  makes  it  worth  his  while  so  to  refrain. 

Everyone  has  heard  of  the  "deadline."  This  fate- 
ful boundary  in  New  York  was  supposed  to  be  Ful- 
ton Street.  No  thieves  were  tolerated  south  of  it. 
Inquiry  was  made  a  few  years  ago  as  to  whether  any 
such  line  still  existed.  The  answer  was  that  it  cer- 
tainly did,  that  it  was  at  least  equally  as  clearly 
defined  as  in  the  old  days. 


112  Policeman  and  Public 

"Where  is  it  now.  It  used  to  be  downtown  some- 
where, Fulton  Street,  didn't  it?  Where  is  it  now?" 

The  answer  was,  the  city  limits.  Really  it  could 
not  be  otherwise,  for  things  have  progressed  since 
the  old  days.  What  did  the  old  deadline  mean? 
If  thieves  must  not  steal  below  Fulton  Street,  how 
about  the  rest  of  the  city?  And  if  the  police 
"allowed"  thieving  in  some  parts  of  the  city,  there 
must  have  been  something  in  it  for  them. 

The  story  has  often  been  told  of  the  man  who  had 
his  watch  stolen  one  Monday  morning  on  Brooklyn 
Bridge.  He  reported  the  theft  to  the  nearest  station 
house,  stating  that  the  case  number  of  the  watch 
was,  let  us  say,  12345  and  the  movement  number 
67890 ;  that  it  had  been  picked  from  his  waistcoat 
pocket  on  the  bridge.  He  was  certain  of  this  because 
he  had  meant  to  time  himself  across  the  bridge,  and 
remembered  taking  out  his  watch  and  noting  the 
time  at  the  Brooklyn  end;  when  he  felt  for  it  on 
reaching  the  New  York  side  it  was  gone. 

He  called  at  the  police  station  the  following  day 
and  also  on  Wednesday,  but  the  portly  lieutenant  at 
the  desk  seemed  to  take  only  a  desultory  interest 
and  he  gave  up  hope  of  recovery  through  him,  for 
he  had  heard  of  the  police  process  of  tiring  out  com- 
plainants till  they  complained  no  more.  He  then 
remembered  that  he  knew  a  politician,  and  he  had 
heard  stories  about  the  uncanny  power  they  wield 


Grafting  113 

in  public  affairs  and  in  influencing  the  conduct  of 
public  servants.  He  betook  himself  therefore  to  his 
acquaintance,  and  was  by  him  conducted  to  police 
headquarters  and  introduced  to  the  high  officer  who 
had  command  of  the  Detective  Bureau. 

He  told  the  story  again,  and  the  politician  observed 
that  he  hoped  the  inspector  would  do  what  he  could 
for  his  friend. 

"I  sure  will,"  was  the  reply.  "You  come  in  here 
tomorrow  morning  at  this  time  and  I  will  have  your 
watch.  Here,  Bill,"  he  called  out  to  a  detective  in  the 
next  room,  "come  in  here." 

Bill  came  in. 

"Bill,  this  gentleman  lost  his  watch  on  Brooklyn 
Bridge  last  Monday  morning.  Some  dip  must  have 
lifted  it.  Case  number,  1234-5;  movement,  67890. 
Get  it, — and  have  it  here  tomorrow  morning  at  this 
time." 

Impressed  with  this  business-like  method  of  carry- 
ing on  police  work,  and  with  the  confidence  the 
inspector  showed  in  his  ability  to  recover  the  watch, 
the  gentleman,  according  to  instructions,  called  at 
headquarters  the  following  morning.  The  chief 
shook  hands  with  him  and  sent  for  Bill,  who  came  in 
looking  a  bit  indignant  and  rather  sheepish. 

"Well,  where's  the  watch?"  said  the  chief. 

"Chief,  there's  sure  some  mistake  about  that.  I've 
made  'cm  show  me  every  watch  stolen  on  Brooklyn 


114  Policeman  and  Public 

Bridge  that  morning,  and  that  number  wasn't  among 
'em." 

This  is  practically  partnership  in  crime  between 
police  and  thieves.  It  produces  team  play  of  the 
mutual  benefit  order,  the  party  of  the  first  part 
shielding  and  protecting,  while  the  party  of  the  sec- 
ond part  operates  and  divides.  And  when  in  a  par- 
ticular case  the  hue  and  cry  comes  so  close  that  a 
victim,  or  booty,  has  to  be  thrown  to  the  dogs,  an 
exhibition  is  given  of  "detective"  work  of  the  highest 
order,  the  specific  thief  in  question  being  forced  by 
the  other  partners,  of  both  parts,  to  submit  to  arrest 
and  to  disgorge  the  plunder — all  for  the  quieting  of 
the  dangerously  aroused  pack,  usually  so  meek,  and 
for  the  ultimate  profit  of  the  partnership. 

This  is  mostly,  we  hope,  ancient  history,  but  such 
a  system  could  easily  and  quickly  arise  at  any  time, 
unless  police  affairs  receive  proper  publicity,  and 
police  heads  are  ready  to  answer  questions  and  ^ub- 
mit  attested  facts  and  figures.  The  two  necessary 
elements  to  the  partnership  always  exist,  police  and 
crooks ;  they  need  nothing  but  public  indifference  in 
order  to  fuse  and  prosper. 

The  public  hires  the  policeman  to  enforce  the  law ; 
the  crook  hires  him  not  to.  Public  opinion  is  so 
strong  and  undivided  with  reference  to  crimes — 
burglary,  pocket-picking,  assault  and  robbery,  white 
slavery,  etc., — that  it  would  be  too  risky  for  police- 


Grafting  115 

men  to  permit  people  systematically  to  commit  them. 
It  is  different,  however,  with  the  laws  regulating  our 
manners  and  customs,  the  laws,  as  it  is  sometimes 
phrased,  against  vice  in  distinction  from  crime.  If 
a  man  steals  or  swindles  or  murders  he  is  not  merely 
breaking  a  law  but  is  offending  against  strong  and 
unanimous  public  opinion.  When  caught,  if  the  evi- 
dence is  clear  that  he  stole  the  watch  or  robbed  the 
paymaster  he  will  be  convicted,  sentenced,  and  put 
behind  the  bars. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  saloon  keeper  sells  a  drink 
to  a  man  five  minutes  after  the  legal  closing  hour  on 
Saturday  night,  he  has  not  offended  against  undi- 
vided public  opinion  like  the  thief  or  the  robber. 
Stealing  is  always  wrong  no  matter  what  the  hour 
or  day  or  season  of  year.  Assault  and  robbery, 
blackmail,  kidnapping,  are  crimes  whenever,  however, 
by  whomsoever  committed,  and  the  public  insists  that 
all  its  enforcers  of  law  and  order  shall  proceed 
strongly  against  individuals  guilty  of  such  crimes, 
to  punish  and  make  examples  of  them. 

There  can  be  no  inherent  distinction,  however, 
between  selling  a  drink  five  minutes  before  a  certain 
hour  arbitrarily  fixed  as  closing  time,  and  selling 
an  exactly  similar  drink  five  minutes  afterwards. 
Such  an  offense  is  of  a  quite  different  character  from 
burglary  or  rape,  for  instance.  Many  good  people 
believe  that  no  liquor  should  be  sold  to  anyone  at 


116  Policeman  and  Public 

any  time,  or  be  drunk  by  anyone  at  amr  time ;  others 
who  may  be  equally  good  believe  that  whatever  re- 
strictions are  put  upon  the  sale  of  liquor  should  be 
purely  regulatory  in  character  with  the  purpose,  not 
of  prohibiting,  but  of  controlling  in  such  wise  as  to 
avoid  what  seem  to  them  the  only  evils  of  the  traffic. 
Still  other  good  people  believe  that  we  ought  not  to 
be  too  fussy  about  the  whole  business,  that  our  laws 
are  well  enough,  but  that  we  must  not  be  puritanical 
or  inconsiderate  in  enforcing  them;  we  must  show 
ourselves  to  be  men  of  the  world  and  must  have  a 
heart  for  other  people's  feelings — if  we  don't  want 
to  drink,  well  and  good,  probably  everyone  would  be 
better  off  without  it,  but  if  the  other  fellow  does  want 
to  drink,  what  business  is  it  of  ours,  so  long  as  he 
does  not  become  offensive  or  harmful  in  any  way? 

Somehow,  to  give  another  instance,  there  does  not 
seem  to  be  any  fundamental,  deep-seated  principle 
involved  which  makes  it  right  for  an  actor  on  the 
stage  on  Sunday  to  give  a  recitation,  but  wrong  for 
the  same  actor  to  illustrate  his  song,  or  enliven  it, 
by  dancing.  Yet  the  law  says  that  while  one  is  law- 
ful, the  other  is  a  crime ;  that  the  person  who  com- 
mits it  should  be  apprehended,  tried,  found  guilty, 
and  sentenced;  that  the  managers  of  the  theatre 
should  have  their  license  taken  away  from  them. 

The  public  does  not  seem  to  have  the  same  idea  of 
the  matter ;  does  not  seem  to  feel  the  same  resent- 


Grafting  117 

ment  against  the  actor  whose  crime  is  dancing  on 
Sunday  for  the  delectation  of  the  spectators,  as  it 
does  toward  the  burglar  who  breaks  in  and  steals. 

The  problem  presented  by  these  regulatory  laws 
is  one  which  plagues  police  forces  in  all  our  Ameri- 
can cities  and  often  builds  up  reefs  upon  which  police 
administrations  are  totally  wrecked,  although  they 
may  have  been  effective  in  keeping  down  crime,  pre- 
serving the  peace,  making  life  and  property  safe. 
We  seem  to  have  the  habit  in  this  country  of  pass- 
ing laws  in  all  seriousness  that  we  really  do  not  intend 
to  have  enforced  as  they  are  written ;  we  rely  upon  it 
that  they  shall  be  tempered  and  tamed  a  bit  by  the 
humanity  and  practical  worldly  common  sense  of 
those  upon  whom  is  placed  the  duty  of  enforcement. 
It  often  seems  that  the  majority  of  us  take  a  certain 
righteous  satisfaction  in  supporting  regulatory 
measures  which  are  eminently  respectable  and  high- 
minded;  and  having  lent  support  to  such  worthy 
measures,  and  through  our  representatives  in  legis- 
latures secured  their  enactment  into  law,  we  feel  that 
we  have  done  a  good  job  for  the  common  weal :  we 
have  forbidden  vice;  we  have  kept  the  Sabbath  un- 
polluted ;  and  then,  as  individuals,  we  feel  that  hav- 
ing done  our  whole,  commendable  share  in  this  way 
we  are  quite  justified  in  taking  an  exception  or  two 
in  our  own  personal  cases.  So,  if  we  want  to  go  to 
a  show  Sunday  afternoon  we  pick  out  the  most  inter- 


118  Policeman  and  Public 

esting  program  that  is  advertised,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  added  interest  in  this  particular  thea- 
tre of  our  choice  is  attained  by  violation  of  the  laws 
whose  enactment  we  approved.  And,  if  we  are  going 
home  late  on  Saturday  night  and  the  hour  somehow 
slips  along  so  that  it  becomes  Sunday  morning,  and 
we  are  thirsty,  we  feel  that  no  one  will  be  any  the 
worse  if  we  drop  in  through  the  side  door  of  a  hos- 
pitable saloon  and  enjoy  a  grateful  drink. 

We  have  a  queer  attitude  toward  some  of  our  laws. 
We  make  them  often  without  much  or  any  thought 
as  to  how  they  are  going  to  fit  the  actual  needs  and 
wishes  and  aspirations  of  the  people  whose  lives  and 
customs  they  are  going  to  rule ;  we  print  them  on  the 
pages  of  our  statute  books,  and  then  put  the  books 
upon  the  shelves  and  let  books  and  law  and  all  re- 
membrance of  law  become  thickly  covered  with  the 
placid  dust  of  oblivion.  They  are  still  laws,  and  our 
police  and  prosecuting  attorneys  are  sworn  to  enforce 
them,  yet  there  they  are,  snugly  sleeping,  happily 
hidden  by  accumulating  dusty  layers.  We  don't 
seem  to  have  periodical  house-cleanings,  shaking  the 
dust  off  our  law  tomes  and  looking  over  these  laws, 
each  and  all  of  them,  to  see  whether  we  still  approve 
them  and  whether  we  still  want  to  be  governed  by 
them,  and  still  wish  to  give  authority  to  police  and 
prosecutors  to  hale  us  to  court  if  we  violate  them. 
We  just  keep  on  passing  them,  and  trusting  to  the 


Grafting  119 

good  sense,  and  knowledge  of  public  opinion,  on  the 
part  of  our  officials  not  to  bother  us  with  laws  which, 
though  still  law,  are  yet  not  law. 

It  is  a  great  and  dangerous  and  burdensome  power 
that  this  attitude  of  the  public  bestows  upon  police 
authorities.  The  policeman's  job  would  be  robbed 
of  most  of  its  worries  and  difficulties  if  every  law 
were  the  actual  expression  of  the  public  opinion  of 
the  day,  so  that  the  policeman  could  know  definitely 
that  his  whole  duty  was  to  enforce  it  as  written,  and 
that  in  doing  so  he  would  be  supported  by  juries  and 
judges,  so  that  if  he  brought  in  the  evidence  they 
would  do  the  rest. 

But  that  is  not  our  way,  and  there  are  not  many 
signs  on  the  horizon  that  we  are  going  to  adopt  it 
soon.  We  muddle  along,  and  if  our  police  fail  to 
show  what  we  call  good  sense,  if  they  are  too  strict  in 
doing  what  we  have  made  them  swear  they  will  do, 
then  we  shake  our  heads  with  disgust  and  say  we 
want  no  more  of  this  puritanical  method  of  enforcing 
laws.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  police,  taking  us  at 
our  previous  word,  look  the  other  way,  and  enforce 
the  laws  "liberally,"  that  is,  fail  to  enforce  them, 
and  if  things  become  a  little  bit  free  and  easy,  grow- 
ing freer  and  easier,  and  still  more  so — then  some 
morning  we,  the  public,  blink  our  eyes,  slowly  wake 
up,  and  say  to  ourselves,  "Well !  what  do  you  think 
of  that?  The  way  these  police  neglect  their  duty  is 


120  Policeman  and  Public 

a  scandal ;  there  can  be  no  explanation  of  it  except 
incompetence  and  graft,  and  it's  so  raw  I  guess  it's 
both !" 

The  heads  of  police  forces  are  entitled  to  know 
what  the  public  wants.  The  laws  do  not  show  this. 
It  is  hard  to  tell  just  what  laws  mean,  anyway,  until 
they  have  been  interpreted  two  or  three  times  by 
high  courts,  and  even  then  they  mean  nothing  unless 
juries  and  judges  carry  them  out  as  they  are  written 
and  interpreted.  At  times  these  sumptuary  laws  of 
ours  do  not  seem  to  be  enforced  by  police,  by  prose- 
cuting attorneys,  by  juries,  by  judges,  as  they  appar- 
ently were  meant  to  be.  And  from  some  dominating 
points  of  view  it  looks  as  if,  among  all  these  different 
enforcers,  the  police  should  be  held  least  responsible 
if  they  fail.  In  the  first  place,  they  are  not  so  learned 
as  the  others — they  are  just  policemen;  secondly, 
they  have,  besides  this,  a  great  big  job  and  a  weighty 
responsibility:  they  must  preserve  the  peace,  they 
must  keep  your  property  secure,  they  must  protect 
your  life  and  the  lives  of  your  wife  and  daughter. 
There  are  only  a  certain  number  of  them  and  they 
have  to  cover  the  whole  city,  and  look  out  for  house- 
breakers, robbers,  thieves  of  all  kinds,  as  well  as  for 
the  man  who  dances  at  a  Sunday  show,  or  encourages 
pinochle  in  a  friendly  back  room.  They  can't  devote 
too  large  a  percentage  of  their  strength  to  enforcing 
some  of  these  laws  without  at  the  same  time  reducing 


Grafting  121 

the  percentage  on  others.  In  New  York  there  are 
approximately  ten  thousand  saloons  and  ten  thousand 
policemen.  If  a  policeman  were  stationed  at  the 
door  of  every  saloon  on  Sunday,  the  saloons  would 
probably  do  very  little  violating  of  the  law,  but  what 
a  happy  day  for  sneak  thieves  and  pickpockets ! 

Even,  however,  if  a  larger  number  of  men  were 
assigned  the  sole  duty  of  looking  after  violators  of 
the  regulatory  laws,  what  would  be  the  result? 

It  is  reported  that  after  an  intelligent  plain- 
clothes  policeman  had  told  a  grand  jury  clearly  and 
convincingly  just  at  what  time  and  in  what  respect 
a  certain  saloon  keeper  had  violated  the  excise  law, 
u  juror  put  this  question  to  him:  "Officer,  I  guess 
what  you  say  is  all  right,  but  why  did  you  pinch  this 
man  and  not  any  one  of  the  gin-mill  keepers  on  the 
other  three  corners?" 

An  indictment  was  not  found,  either  because  the 
grand  jury  did  not  believe  the  policeman,  or  because, 
though  they  believed  him,  they  did  not  care  to  en- 
force that  law,  or  they  suspected  that  this  particu- 
lar saloon  keeper  had  been  arrested  because  he,  per- 
haps, had  refused  to  pay  the  police  what  they 
demanded  for  protection. 

A  member  of  the  bar  of  New  York  State  who 
served  for  over  ten  years  in  charge  of  the  Indict- 
ment Bureau  of  the  prosecuting  attorney  of  one  of 
the  largest  counties  in  the  state,  is  quoted  as  having 


122  Policeman  and  Public 

said  that  during  the  ten  years  he  had  charge  of  this 
bureau,  between  one  thousand  and  eleven  hundred 
cases  of  excise  violation  were  submitted  to  the  grand 
jury.  Each  one  of  these  cases  he  carefully  exam- 
ined personally  before  submission,  and  was  convinced 
that  in  every  one  the  evidence  was  indisputable  and 
the  case  clear;  there  were,  in  other  words,  a  thou- 
sand or  more  proved  violators  of  the  excise  law. 
These  cases  went  to  the  grand  jury.  Those  that 
did  not  fall  by  the  wayside  in  the  grand  jury  cham- 
ber were  passed  along  and  heard  before  a  judge  and 
a  petit  jury.  Of  the  one  thousand  and  more  good 
and  true  cases  which  were  submitted  to  the  grand 
jury,  the  number  that  went  through  the  gamut  of 
grand  and  petit  juries  and  judges  and  resulted  in 
convictions  was  three. 

What  does  a  record  like  this  say  to  the  command- 
ing officer  of  a  police  force? 

It  can  say  nothing  else  except :  "You  have  no  busi- 
ness, Mr.  Commissioner,  to  waste  the  time  of  your 
men  in  getting  evidence  in  case  after  case  of  viola- 
tion of  regulatory  laws  when  you  know  that  public 
opinion  does  not  support  you,  and  you  know  it  not 
because  of  what  you  guess  as  to  the  state  of  public 
opinion — you  know  it  because  public  opinion  has  ex- 
pressed itself  definitely  in  matters  of  law  enforce- 
ment through  the  mouths  of  its  spokesmen,  grand  and 
petit  juries. 


Grafting  123 

"When  you  take  case  after  case  of  Sunday  viola- 
tors to  court,  and  public  opinion,  speaking  through 
juries,  tells  you  that  your  evidence  is  good  but  that 
they  don't  choose  to  convict,  it  is  the  same  as  serving 
notice  on  you  that  you  are  to  use  your  forces  other- 
wise, to  keep  down  crime,  and  that  you  are  not  to 
waste  the  time  and  effort  of  your  men,  and  the  pub- 
lic money  needed  to  secure  evidence  in  order  to  bring 
these  kinds  of  cases  to  the  bar  of  justice  simply  to 
have  them  thrown  out. 

"The  public  wants  you  to  concentrate  your  atten- 
tion on  keeping  life  and  property  safe. 

"The  public  is  pretty  well  satisfied  with  the  condi- 
tion of  the  public  morals,  and  as  long  as  the  saloons 
are  no  worse  than  they  are,  and  the  women  on  the 
street  are  no  more  importunate  than  now,  and  the 
Sunday  shows  are  no  more  improper  than  they  have 
been,  you  stop  wasting  your  men,  the  servants  of 
the  public,  and  the  funds  at  your  disposal,  the  money 
of  the  public — stop  wasting  them  on  efforts  which 
will  accomplish  nothing,  for  you  are  running  your 
head  into  the  blank  wall  of  disapproving  public 
opinion. 

"Put  your  men  to  work  where  their  masters,  the 
public,  want  them,  that  is,  at  preventing  and  de- 
tecting crime." 

And  what  is  the  poor,  harried  police  chief  to  do? 
It  boots  him  not  to  sigh  and  wish  that  he  could  find 


124  Policeman  and  Public 

someone  who  would  give  him  clear  instructions.  He 
can't  find  any  such  person  or  any  such  august  body. 

There  is  a  sinister  side  to  this,  which  has  a  most 
baleful  effect  upon  the  members  of  the  force,  for  in 
these  regulatory  laws  are  nourished  the  roots  of 
police  graft.  The  policeman  concludes  that  the  pub- 
lic does  not  expect  him  to  enforce  to  the  letter  all 
the  sumptuary  laws.  He  knows  thereby  that  he  is  not 
taking  much  risk  if  he  allows  violations.  He  is, 
therefore,  most  sorely  tempted  to  permit  such  viola- 
tions in  the  cases  of  those  who  make  it  worth  his 
while.  If  there  are  four  saloons  on  his  post,  and  if 
three  of  them  make  a  contribution  to  him  every  Sun- 
day morning,  he  is  prone  to  let  matters  take  their 
agreeable  course  with  reference  to  these  contributors, 
but  to  make  things  a  little  hot  for  the  fourth,  who 
may  be  reserving  his  Sunday  morning  contribution 
for  another  and  even  more  worthy  purpose. 

This  gives  the  policeman,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
weapon  against  non-contributors  of  the  threat  of 
arraignment  in  court;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
permits  him  safely  and  without  appreciable  risk  to 
refrain  from  enforcing  the  law  in  such  particular 
cases  as  his  good  judgment  dictates. 

It  is  from  this  sort  of  situation  that  practically 
all  police  graft  grows.  If  all  our  laws  were  living 
forces,  if  we  meant  what  we  said  when  we  told  police 
forces  to  go  out  and  enforce  them,  if  we  backed  up 


Grafting  125 

police  forces  with  the  rest  of  the  law-enforcing  ma- 
chinery, and  corrected  situations  as  they  became  in- 
tolerable through  laws  that  were  growing  old  and 
blue,  not  by  telling  a  policeman  in  effect  to  refrain 
from  doing  his  duty,  but  by  amending  or  abolishing 
our  laws  so  that  they  should  always  reflect  the  exist- 
ing standards  and  desires  of  the  public — then  we 
should  rescue  these  fine  bodies  of  men  from  the  intol- 
erable situation  into  which  we  have  put  them,  and 
which,  for  those  of  them  that  have  the  duty  of  en- 
forcing our  regulatory  laws,  constitutes  such  a 
temptation  to  dishonest}'. 

Why  should  we  wonder  at  the  growth  of  lawless- 
ness in  a  community  when  the  community  itself  has 
so  little  respect  personally  for  laws  which  it  col- 
lectively enacts?  It  often  seems  a  travesty  to  call 
our  enactments  law,  they  are  so  totally  different 
from  natural  laws.  The  law  of  gravitation,  for  in- 
stance, is  a  statement  of  fact.  Wise  men  discovered 
that  bodies  in  space  are  attracted  toward  each  other. 
They  stated  this  fact  and  called  it,  for  convenience, 
a  law.  In  somewhat  similar  manner  should  not  man- 
made  laws  be  statements  of  the  public's  desires ;  and 
should  not,  theoretically,  the  whole  legal  system  be 
continuously  adjusting,  and  readjusting  itself  so 
that  it  continues  to  be,  like  natural  law,  an  actual, 
true  statement  of  public  standards? 

Good,  puzzled  people  often  become  impatient  with 


126  Policeman  and  Public 

reform  administrations  because  violations  of  regula- 
tory laws  seem  to  continue  under  them.  They  fully 
expected  that  when  the  dishonest  machine  govern- 
ment was  thrown  out  there  would  be  an  end  to  this 
sort  of  thing. 

They  say :  "We  know  you  are  honest ;  we  believe 
you  mean  well;  but  we  can't  see  how  it  is  that  you 
permit  the  law  to  be  violated  in  this  way. 

"We  know  that  if  the  police  send  out  the  word  the 
saloons  will  close.  It  has  been  done  before,  so  it  can 
be  done  now. 

"Why  don't  you  do  it  ?  It  is  so  simple.  Why,  we 
have  often  read  in  the  newspapers  that  the  gamblers 
close  up  on  getting  a  tip  from  the  police,  or  that 
every  saloon  in  the  city  was  tight  closed  on  Sunday 
because  of  a  police  tip.  Why  don't  you  give  this 
tip?" 

No  wonder  they  are  puzzled.  The  members  of  the 
reform  administration  of  which  such  great  things 
are  expected  would  welcome,  even  more  than  the 
puzzled  good  citizens,  the  power  to  give  that  tip  and 
have  it  followed.  The  trouble  is  that  with  the 
entrance  of  a  reform  administration  comes  the  sever- 
ance of  the  tie  between  police  and  lawbreaker  which 
caused  the  "tip"  from  one  to  the  other  to  be  received 
as  the  advice  of  one  interested  partner  to  the  other. 
The  tip  never  lasts  long  enough  to  have  the  slightest 
effect  toward  changing  the  situation  of  law  enforce- 


Grafting  127 

ment;  if  it  resulted  in  their  shutting  down,  the 
offenders  would  soon  discard  the  partner  who  passed 
out  such  unprofitable  tips.  They  do  heed,  however, 
and  gratefully,  the  tip  of  the  partner  who  knows 
that  something  has  happened  of  such  a  character 
that  it  is  to  their  mutual  best  interest  if  the  violator 
refrain  from  violating  for  a  day  or  two,  or  possibly 
three — long  enough  for  the  storm  to  blow  over,  for 
the  public  to  calm  down  or  have  its  attention  di- 
verted to  something  else.  The  supposedly  all-power- 
ful tip,  in  the  first  place,  cannot  work  at  all  except 
as  a  temporary  measure  of  seeking  cover;  and, 
secondly,  it  cannot  operate  unless  it  passes  between 
those  who  "understand"  each  other  and  have  a 
common  interest. 

One  cannot  but  feel  in  the  face  of  such  conditions 
that  the  policeman  who  yields  to  these  temptations 
and  takes  graft  is  really  not  much  more  than  a  pawn 
in  the  game.  Great  as  is  the  blame  that  attaches  to 
him,  and  despicable  as  is  a  public  official  who  lowers 
himself  to  accept  bribes,  yet  the  public  in  condemn- 
ing, and  properly  condemning  a  crooked  policeman 
should  realize  that  he  has  had  a  job  where  the  temp- 
tation is  greater  than  that  in  most  other  jobs,  and 
where  he  has  been  permitted  for  years  to  go  ahead 
with  his  work,  without  any  insistence  on  the  part  of 
the  public  that  his  methods  should  be  open  and  above- 
board. 


128  Policeman  and  Public 

The  policeman  who  has  the  duty  of  enforcing  vice 
laws  faces  one  of  the  hardest  situations  which  could 
confront  a  self-respecting  man.  In  his  honest  en- 
deavor to  enforce  its  laws  he  deserves  the  under- 
standing and  the  support  of  the  public.  Mystery 
should  not  be  permitted,  nothing  should  be  kept 
secret  by  the  police  except  what  is  necessary  for 
obtaining  success  in  individual  cases.  Accurate 
records  should  be  kept  by  methods  which  will  picture 
facts,  and  no  "smoke  screens"  should  be  tolerated. 

A  favorite  screening  method  used  by  dishonest 
policemen  is  to  try  to  create  such  an  impression  of 
energy  and  rectitude  in  certain  ways  that  the  atten- 
tion of  all  shall  be  diverted,  leaving  the  field  in  other 
directions  safely  open  to  busy  and  profitable  effort. 
It  has  happened  in  police  forces  in  this  country  that 
high  officers  who  have  had  among  other  duties  those 
of  enforcing  the  laws  controlling  vice  have  been  con- 
spicuous attendants  at  church,  frequent  speakers  at 
meetings  of  church  clubs,  total  abstainers  and 
earnest  workers  for  abstinence  among  their  sub- 
ordinates ;  they  have  also  been  terrors  to  certain 
classes  of  evildoers,  those  whom  it  would  be  too 
hazardous  to  sell  protection  to.  Yet  these  same 
high  police  officials  were  all  the  time  concealing  activ- 
ities which  were  nothing  less  than  cunning,  crooked 
and  contemptible  graft. 

By  making  some  of  their  men  publicly  take  the 


Grafting  129 

pledge,  and  by  ostentatiously  chasing  some  un- 
profitable gangsters  from  the  neighborhood  they 
gain  for  themselves  a  reputation  which  they  can  draw 
on  as  needed  to  cover  up  their  protection  to  pur- 
veyors of  vice.  This  is  true  especially,  of  course,  of 
the  higher  officials,  the  ones  who  have  the  authority, 
and  the  power  to  afford  protection. 

The  notorious  "System,"  when  it  exists,  works 
from  these  men  both  up  and  down.  When  the  times 
are  benign  and  trade  flourishes,  it  goes  up  to  other 
branches  of  the  city  government.  It  works  best 
when  police  magistrates,  and  higher  judges  if  pos- 
sible, will  listen  and  do  their  part  on  occasions  "of 
stress,  by  letting  off  some  vicious  person  whom  the 
police  were  obliged  by  force  of  circumstances  to 
arrest  against  their  will.  And  in  such  halcyon  days 
of  finished  organization,  the  System  can  count  also 
on  the  brotherly  cooperation  of  district  attorneys, 
sheriffs,  and  other  useful  city  officials. 

lit  »ides  reaching  above,  to  these  men  higher  up, 
the  System  works  down  also,  through  the  lower 
ranks  of  the  force.  It  requires  the  active  coopera- 
tion of  such  officers  as  are  directly  charged  with  en- 
forcing the  laws  which  are  to  be  broken  for  pay,  and 
the  passive  cooperation  of  about  the  whole  force. 
This  passive  partnership  in  graft  means  merely,  but 
absolutely,  that  Silence  must  be  maintained,  that  no 
policeman  must  open  his  mouth  about  the  criminal 


130  Policeman  and  Public 

doings  of  his  brother  officers.  These  men  get  no 
financial  return,  but  woe  betide  them  if  they  open 
their  mouths,  if  they  do  what  they  have  sworn  they 
will  do :  enforce  the  law,  apprehend  lawbreakers.  If 
the  criminal  happens  to  wear  the  uniform,  he  is 
immune.  A  "squealer"  is  a  marked  man,  life  on  the 
force  would  be  made  miserable  for  him,  if  he  could 
endure  it  at  all ;  by  far  the  easiest  way  is  to  observe 
the  brotherhood  of  silence,  and  let  the  grafters  graft. 
Thus  is  the  fine,  wholesome  body  of  the  force 
tainted  throughout  with  the  poison  generated  by  the 
betrayal  of  their  trust  by  the  few  active  beneficiaries 
of  the  evil,  greedy,  traitorous  System.  It  is  a 
vicious,  malignant  growth,  despicable  and  dangerous 
because  of  the  way  it  spreads  its  corrupting  venom. 
This  spread  is  essential  to  its  life ;  it  could  not  exist 
without  this  compulsion  of  silence.  And  if  the  ma- 
chinery runs  well,  the  profits  are  so  great  that  it 
stops  at  nothing  to  compel  compliance.  From  time 
to  time  one  reads  in  the  public  prints  of  some  sort 
of  official  humiliation  visited  on  a  policeman  of  good 
reputation.  This  is  a  danger  signal  to  the  public, 
just  as  an  S  O  S  call  is  to  ships  at  sea.  It  should  be 
at  once  heeded,  and  the  whole  situation  be  thoroughly 
looked  into.  What  investigators  often  encounter  on 
a  quest  like  this  is  the  "nothing  to  say"  attitude, 
usually  accompanied  by  the  allegation  that  the  in- 
formation asked  for  cannot  be  given,  as  its  publica- 


Grafting  131 

tion  would  work  against  the  public  interest.  Such 
an  allegation  is  simply  a  second  and  confirmatory 
danger  signal.  There  is  practically  no  police  in- 
formation that  cannot,  and  should  not,  in  the  public 
interest,  be  given  to  respectable  citizens  who  have 
the  interest  to  ask  for  it. 

It  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  for  a  System  to 
get  started  if  there's  a  market  for  vice  in  a  city,  but 
it  is  far  harder  than  it  used  to  be  for  it  to  develop 
satisfactorily  to  its  members.  Public  life  has  higher 
standards,  and  newspapers  are  searching  in  their 
methods. 

Policemen  sometimes  try  to  excuse  graft  as  being 
simply  in  the  nature  of  tips,  and  we  have  all  heard 
the  distinction  between  honest  and  dishonest  graft. 
They  also  try  to  excuse  it  as  being  simply  a  sort  of 
business  custom,  just  as  characteristic  of  business 
men,  bankers  and  brokers,  as  it  is  of  policemen.  Yet 
the  humiliation  is  deep  and  real.  A  police  officer  of 
the  highest  rank  once  told  a  friend  at  a  time  when 
the  reputation  of  the  force  was  low  that  he  never 
appeared  in  uniform  any  more  than  he  could  help, 
for  people  always  turned  the  other  way  and  avoided 
him.  Policemen  have  said  that  when  they  went  away 
with  their  families  for  the  summer  vacation  they 
tried  to  conceal  the  fact  that  they  were  policemen. 

But  police  forces  are  sound  at  the  core,  and  the 
great  majority  of  the  men  on  any  given  force  are 


132  Policeman  and  Public 

undoubtedly  honest,  anyway.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  viciousness  of  police  graft  cannot  be  over- 
estimated, and  the  danger  of  it  to  the  public  is  far 
greater  than  is  commonly  realized,  for  graft,  dis- 
honesty, low  standards  from  any  cause,  low  practices 
of  any  kind,  are  ruinous  to  police  morale.  We  need 
not  count  on  getting  the  high  grade  of  protective 
service  the  community  needs  unless  we  take  such 
measures  as  may  be  necessary  to  make  and  keep  our 
police  forces  honest.  The  morale  must  be  high,  and 
it  cannot  be  high  in  a  body  of  men  where  there  is  even 
a  small  cancer  of  dishonesty  gnawing  its  way  into 
the  sound,  wholesome  body  of  the  force  and  corrupt- 
ing it  both  by  gradually  eating  its  way  further  and 
becoming  a  larger  and  larger  part  of  it,  and  by  pour- 
ing its  contaminating  poison  into  the  circulation  of 
the  body,  thereby  paralyzing  more  and  more  of  its 
natural  functions. 

In  the  old  palmy  days  when  there  were  no  new- 
fangled notions  about  this  sort  of  thing,  the  police 
force  was  simply  part  of  the  political  machine. 
Other  parts  were  judges,  prosecuting  attorneys,  race- 
track men,  gamblers,  operators  of  houses  of  ill-fame, 
saloon  keepers,  and  all  others  who  expected  to  earn 
an  honest  living  by  violating  the  law.  The  clamor 
in  a  particular  case  would  have  to  be  very  loud  and 
long  sustained  for  a  member  of  the  machine  to  be 
arrested  by  his  colleague,  the  policeman,  or  prose- 


Grafting  133 

cuted  with  any  vigor  by  his  colleague,  the  public 
attorney.  If  things  came  to  the  worst  and  the  case 
were  driven  to  judgment,  he  could  rely  upon  a  favor- 
able charge  to  the  jury,  and  if  the  jury  proved  re- 
calcitrant, upon  certainly  as  light  a  sentence  as 
could  be  imposed.  It  was  a  powerful  machine;  it 
poisoned  everything  it  came  in  contact  with;  it 
throttled  with  its  grip  of  vice  all  that  was  good  and 
true  and  sound  and  strong  in  the  community  which 
might  stand  between  it  and  its  plunder.  Probably 
there  is  not  much  of  this  sort  of  thing  in  its  undiluted 
form  in  this  country  nowadays.  It  was  a  system  so 
profitable  to  its  managers,  however,  that  it  accepts 
defeat  bitterly,  and  fights  to  retain  all  it  can, 
contesting  a  losing  battle  with  stubbornness  and 
wile. 

In  one  of  our  largest  cities,  the  story  is  told  of  a 
talk  some  years  ago  between  the  police  head  and  a 
political  machine  leader.  The  former  had  conceived 
the  idea  that  he  could  run  the  force  himself,  without 
the  usual  political  guidance.  He  was  a  strong  man, 
and  was  getting  along  rather  well,  so  well  that  the 
leader  was  worried.  So  he  called  to  see  him.  The 
proposition  he  put  was  roughly  this.  The  police 
would  do  far  more  for  him  than  they  would  for  their 
chief.  The  chief,  therefore,  would  get  the  best  re- 
sults if  he  ran  things  through  the  leader,  who  was 
ready  to  undertake  the  job.  If  certain  places  really 


134  Policeman  and  Public 

had  to  be  cleaned  out,  he  would  see  that  the  police 
cleaned  them ;  if  there  "got  to  be"  too  much  "holler" 
about  anything  he  would  have  it  attended  to.  So 
the  chief  needn't  bother,  and  wouldn't  have  any 
trouble.  All  he  need  do  was  make  promotions  and 
transfers  as  specified  by  the  leader,  and  otherwise 
keep  his  hands  off! 


VIII 

Influence 

THE  preceding  chapter  has  spoken  of  the  way 
corrupt  politics  can  absorb  the  police  as  part  of 
its  powerful  machine,  making  it  an  agency  for  the 
protection  and  furtherance  of  vice.  There  are  other 
ways  in  which  politics  can  affect  the  police,  which  are 
not  corrupt,  which  are  far  removed  and  totally  dif- 
ferent in  character  from  the  practices  just  described, 
but  which  sap  the  power  of  any  force. 

:In  some  cities,  where  civil  service  laws  do  not 
ipply,  appointments  to  the  police  department  are 
ooked  upon  simply  as  places  for  the  workers  in  the 
victorious  party.  An  officer  is  an  officer  just  as 
ong  as  his  party  is  in  power  and  he  serves  it  faith- 
fully enough  to  deserve  the  plum. 

A  few  years  ago  an  investigator  was  traveling 
through  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  look- 
ing over  the  police  forces  in  the  larger  cities  and 
writing  a  book  about  them.  In  the  course  of  his 
journeyings  he  stepped  into  the  office  of  the  chief 
in  a  city  of  some  500,000  inhabitants,  more  or  less. 


136  Policeman  and  Public 

He  presented  his  letters*  of  introduction  and  was 
cordially  greeted. 

"Chief,  I  should  like  the  privilege  of  learning  some- 
thing about  your  problems  and  methods  here." 

"Yes,"  answered  the  chief,  "I  see.  You  want  to 
write  a  book  about  police,  and  you'd  like  to  look  this 
department  over  to  see  how  it  sizes  up  with  the 
others.  Have  I  got  you?" 

"Exactly." 

"Well,  I'll  be  glad  to  let  you  have  a  look  around. 
I'm  just  as  well  satisfied  you  didn't  come  before, 
though,  because  I've  been  reorganizing  the  force. 
I'm  just  through,  and  there  isn't  a  damn  Republican 
left  on  it  today !" 

The  police  and  politics  don't  mix  well.  Each  has 
a  bad  effect  on  the  other,  sometimes  very  bad,  even 
when  there  is  no  taint  of  graft.  People  generally  feel 
this  in  theory,  but  they  seldom  know  just  how  politics 
mingles  with  police  affairs  and  just  what  the  evil 
effect  is. 

A  police  force  must  have  a  single  aim :  to  maintain 
order,  preserve  the  peace,  protect  life  and  property, 
keep  down  crime.  Any  influence  that  tends  to  divert 
it  from  using  its  whole  energy  to  this  end  is  evil,  and 
unconsciously  works  to  disturb  the  peace,  to  break 
down  law  and  order,  to  make  our  lives  and  property 
less  safe.  It  is  a  hard  fight,  this  fight  police  ^forces 
are  waging  day  and  night,  winter  and  summer,  hot 


Influence  137 

or  cold,  wet  or  dry,  against  the  forces  of  disorder, 
the  outlaws,  the  ruffians  who  would  hold  us  up  in  the 
street  and  filch  from  us  our  wages,  the  swindlers  who 
would  take  our  savings  from  us,  the  burglars  who 
would  break  into  our  houses  and  steal ;  it  is  unceasing 
warfare,  for  a  police  force  is  never  off  duty.  No  con- 
sideration must  enter  in  except  success  at  this  task. 
Policemen  must  feel,  must  know  from  experience,  that 
they  are  expected  to  do  nothing  except  the  job  of 
policing  the  city  as  well  as  it  can  be  policed,  that 
they  are  not  to  play  favorites,  that  they  have 
nothing  to  fear  as  long  as  they  just  do  their  duty. 
The  moment  a  policeman  doubts  this  and  begins  to 
wonder  whether  he  is  meant  to  do  his  full  duty,  or 
perhaps  the  powers  above  might  be  better  pleased  if 
he  refrained  from  taking  measures  against  certain 
friends  of  certain  people — the  moment  this  happens 
the  power  of  the  forces  of  law  and  order  is  weakened. 
If  the  policeman  is  sure,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
he  is  expected  to  "obey  the  orders  that  have  been 
officially  given  him,  that  he  will  be  supported  if  he 
tries  to  do  his  best,  no  matter  whether  he  restrains 
friertli  of  -the  authorities  or  not,  that  he  will  be 
supported  eVen  if  he  makes  a  mistake,  so  long  as  it 
is  an  honest  mistake — if  he  knows  that  this  is  the 
situation,  he  will  be  likely  to  shut  his  mind  to  any 
other  thought,  to  any  other  aim  than  that  of  trying 
to  do  his  work  well.  And  when  he  wants  to  be 


138  Policeman  and  Public 

assigned  to  some  other  duty,  to  be  transferred  to  a 
precinct  nearer  his  home,  he  will  ask  his  commanding 
officer  to  do  this  for  him,  stating  his  reasons  and 
standing  upon  his  record  of  performance  of  duty. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  policemen  know  that  trans- 
fers go  by  favor,  and  are  accomplished  by  the 
intercession  of  friends  of  influence  rather  than  by 
straightforward,  hard  work  at  the  job,  a  man 
instead  of  standing  on  his  own  record  would  go  to 
his  district  leader  and  ask  that  he  do  him  the  favor 
of  securing  the  desired  transfer.  The  district  leader, 
glad  to  have  a  chance  to  do  a  favor  for  a  voter,  goes 
to  see  the  police  chief  and  asks  him  to  transfer 
Patrolman  Hayes  from  the  24th  to  the  124th  pre- 
cinct. Now  there  may  be  no  reason  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  distribution  of  the  force  why  Hayes 
should  not  be  in  the  124th  just  as  well  as  in  the  24th, 
yet  if  the  chief  transfers  the  policeman  at  the  behest 
of  the  politician,  that  policeman  knows  that  the  way 
he  got  what  he  wanted  was  not  by  having  a  record  of 
faithful  work,  of  loyal  service  to  the  public,  but  by 
having  an  influential  friend.  He  knows  that  the  way 
to  get  influential  friends  is  to  do  favors  for  them,  and 
most  of  the  favors  that  are  in  his  power  to  do  are 
tacit  permissions  to  break  the  law. 

Under  this  kind  of  regime  no  one  can  blame  the 
men  if  they  devote  their  major  effort  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  friends,  and  relegate  duty  to  the  second  place. 


Influence  139 

Policemen  are  practical  men,  their  work  makes  them 
so.  They  exert  themselves  in  whatever  line  of  en- 
deavor brings  them  what  they  desire.  In  this  they 
are  a  good  deal  like  the  rest  of  us. 

This  is  what  might  be  called  the  innocent  way  in 
which  politics  can  enfeeble  a  police  force,  for  there 
is  nothing  wrong  in  the  motive  of  the  politician,  and 
he  is  far  from  being  alone  in  trying  to  be  the  means 
of  having  favors  done  for  policemen.  Policemen  are 
comfortable  friends  to  have,  and  all  sorts  and  condi- 
tions of  men  from  about  all  the  different  walks  of  life 
come  from  time  to  time  to  those  in  authority  over  a 
police  force  and  ask  favors  for  some  particular  man. 
It  makes  no  difference  whether  he  is  politician  or 
minister  of  the  gospel,  the  principle  is  the  same  and 
the  effect  is  the  same. 

In  a  way,  as  between  politicians  and  other  friends 
of  policemen,  the  politicians  are  more  reasonable  and 
easier  to  convince,  for  a  politician  is  bound  to  do 
what  he  can  for  the  voters  in  his  district  and  he 
wants  them  to  feel  that  if  favors  can  be  got  from 
public  officials  he  is  the  one  to  get  them.  If  a  con- 
stituent wants  a  favor  from  the  tenement  house  de- 
partment, or  the  fire  department,  or  the  health  de- 
partment, he  is  the  one  to  get  it.  It  is  the  same  with 
the  police  department;  if  a  blue-coated  constituent 
wants  a  transfer,  the  politician  wants  to  be  able  to 
get  it  for  him  if  anyone  can  get  it.  In  case,  however, 


140  Policeman  and  Public 

no  one  else  can  accomplish  it,  the  politician  is  per- 
fectly satisfied  to  be  refused,  as  his  constituent  would 
not  be  likely  to  leave  him  for  a  rival  who  can  do  no 
more  than  he  can. 

As  soon  as  men  in  politics  are  convinced  that  a 
police  administration  is  not  playing  politics  at  all, 
that  it  will  make  not  a  single  exception  in  favor  of 
any  politician,  then  all  are  satisfied  and  probably 
rather  relieved,  for  they  are  saved  the  task  of  trying 
to  get  favors  from  one  department  at  least. 

Not  many  years  ago  one  of  the  most  prominent 
figures  in  the  public  life  of  a  great  state  wrote  to  the 
head  of  the  police  force  asking  that  a  patrolman  be 
transferred,  from  one  precinct  to  another,  and  adding 
that  he  would  consider  it  a  personal  favor.  The 
police  head  wrote  back  a  courteous  letter  explaining 
that  he  could  not  make  the  transfer,  since  in  all  such 
matters  he  had  made  it  a  rule  to  deal  only  with  the 
members  of  the  force  themselves,  and  if  such  a  trans- 
fer could  properly  be  made  without  unfavorably 
affecting  the  efficiency  of  the  force,  without  being 
unfair  to  other  men,  it  undoubtedly  would  be  made, 
provided  the  man  requesting  it  had  a  good  record. 
It  must  be  done,  however,  as  the  result  of  the  man's 
own  request,  on  the  basis  of  his  record,  and  not  from 
the  request  of  anyone  outside  the  force. 

That  ended  this  particular  episode — that  is,  it 
ended  the  police  side  of  it.  Later  it  appeared,  how- 


Influence  141 

ever,  that  the  politician  had  been  so  much  impressed 
by  the  singularity  of  the  letter  that  he  had  had  it 
framed  and  hung  on  the  wall  of  his  office,  as  an  adver- 
tisement of  the  writer's  extraordinary  theory  of 
administration. 

A  year  or  so  after  this,  however,  the  writers  of 
these  two  letters  both  happened  to  be  speakers  at  a 
large  public  dinner.  The  man  who  had  made  the 
request  for  the  transfer  spoke  first  and  to  the  sur- 
prise of  the  other  started  to  tell  this  story.  He  had 
not  been  very  well  pleased,  he  admitted,  at  the  re- 
fusal of  his  simple,  trifling  request.  He  had  felt  that 
considering  their  personal  and  other  relations  he 
was  entitled  to  have  this  favor  granted.  As  the 
months  went  on,  however,  he  gradually  became  con- 
vinced, he  told  the  gathering,  that  the  head  of  the 
force  was  "on  the  level" ;  that  he  was  trying  to  run 
his  job  on  a  novel  theory,  asking  nothing  of  the  men 
except  honest  and  earnest  performance  of  duty,  and 
doing  things  for  the  men  themselves  at  their  own 
request,  if  they  were  doing  good  police  work,  which 
he  would  not  for  a  moment  consider  doing  at  the 
request  of  outsiders.  He  had  come  to  the  con- 
clusion, the  speaker  went  on,  that  this  was  probably 
a  pretty  good  method  of  administration  and  he  was 
glad  to  see  it  being  tried  out.  As  far  as  his  request 
for  the  transfer  went,  he  was  perfectly  willing  to  have 
that  refused  as  long  as  he  could  feel  certain  that 


142  Policeman  and  Public 

similar  requests  from  his  rivals  were  also  refused. 
If  no  one  was  going  to  get  anything,  he  didn't  mind ; 
but  if  anyone  succeeded  he  wanted  to  get  a  little 
more  than  anyone  else ! 


IX 

Police  Leadership 

THE  policeman's  task  is  too  important  to  the 
community  to  permit  the  existence  of  such  risks 
of  contamination  by  dishonesty,  and  by  poisonous 
political  influence.  The  material  is  good.  We  take 
pains  to  select  capable  men;  we  train  them,  swear 
them  in,  start  them  out  to  do  their  duty, — and  then 
neglect  them.  It  is  like  buying  a  motor  car  and 
giving  it  no  care,  or  building  a  smooth  road,  and  en- 
tirely forgetting  the  upkeep. 

Policemen's  instincts  are  sound;  the  mistakes  they 
make  are  not  often  those  of  the  heart.  Three  or 
four  years  ago  one  of  the  other  city  departments  in 
New  York  was  making  a  study  of  the  dependent  poor, 
and  in  the  course  of  this  sent  a  man  around  the 
streets  made  up  as  a  beggar  to  see  what  his  experi- 
ences would  be.  He  came  of  course  in  continual  con- 
tact with  the  police,  but  he  was  not  arrested,  and 
only  one  officer  out  of  the  twenty-five  or  thirty  with 
whom  he  came  in  touch  went  so  far  as  to  speak 
roughly  to  him.  One  even  advised  him  to  go  down 
the  avenue  four  or  five  blocks  and  then  over  one 


144  Policeman  and  Public 

block  to  the  west,  for  he  said,  "This  is  not  a  good 
corner" ;  there  would  be  a  good  many  more  people 
and  he  would  have  a  better  chance  below ! 

Two  policemen  came  perilously  near  finding  him 
a  job.  He  escaped  one  by  slipping  out  of  a  side, 
door;  and  the  other  he  avoided  by  pleading  that  his 
apparently  broken  arm  was  still  in  such  a  weak  and 
painful  condition  that  he  could  not  take  up  any  work 
yet. 

But  his  tragic  experience  was  with  the  most 
friendly  policeman.  He  had  figured  that  he  should 
probably  not  get  much  of  anything  to  eat  for  some 
time,  so  just  before  starting  out  he  ate  his  fill. 

It  was  less  than  an  hour  after  this  that  he  accosted 
a  policeman  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  large  restau- 
rant around  Times  Square  with  his  usual  remark: 
"Say,  boss,  can  you  help  a  fellow  out?  I've  just  got 
in  town  with  no  money  and  a  busted  arm.  Can  you 
tell  me  where  I  can  get  a  meal  and  a  chance  to  work?" 

The  policeman,  a  burly  officer,  looked  him  over 
and  said:  "Well,  son,  I  don't  know  about  the  job 
part  of  it.  It  might  be  pretty  hard  to  get  you  a  job 
with  a  bum  wing,  but  you  bet  your  life  I'll  get  that 
empty  belly  of  yours  filled  up !" 

So  he  took  him  into  the  kitchen  of  one  of  Broad- 
way's favorite  restaurants,  told  the  story  to  the 
steward,  and  said  he  wanted  to  see  the  stranger  eat 
a  real  two-man  meal.  The  steward,  whether  out  of 


Police  Leadership  14.5 

sympathy  for  an  unfortunate  fellow  mortal  in  dis- 
tress or  to  do  a  favor  where  it  might  come  in  handy 
later,  provided  the  meal,  and  it  was  a  meal  worthy 
of  the  restaurant.  The  poor  overfed  beggar  had 
to  make  away  with  that  meal  too,  in  spite  of  his 
already  bursting  condition,  for  the  policeman  stood 
over  him  glowing  with  satisfaction. 

Policemen  are  traditionally  ready  to  help  people 
in  trouble;  they  eagerly  took  up  the  scheme  in  New 
York  of  holding  Christmas  trees  in  station  houses 
for  some  of  the  unfortunate  children  of  the  neighbor- 
hood who  otherwise  would  have  had  only  a  sorry 
Christmas ;  they  earnestly  administered  the  fund 
which  was  raised  in  New  York  during  the  hard 
winter  of  1915-16  for  the  relief  of  unemployed,  and 
it  was  found  that  members  of  the  force  themselves 
subscribed  two-thirds  of  the  total.  They  are  gener- 
ous and  they  are  ready  to  do  their  bit.  New  York 
policemen  subscribed  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  to  the  Liberty  Loans,  of  their  own  money,  out 
of  their  own  pay ;  this  was  not  money  which  they 
had  raised  by  solicitation  from  someone  else.  They 
so  much  of  human  nature  that  they  can't  help 
growing  kindly  toward  it,  for  it  isn't  only  the  pro- 
fessional criminal  they  see  and  grow  to  know,  it  is 
the  down-and-out  generally,  the  unfortunate  brother 
or  sister  in  trouble,  for  more  and  more  people  in  any 
sort  of  trouble  are  prone  to  go  to  the  policeman,  as 


146  Policeman  and  Public 

their  confidence  in  the  integrity  and  single  purpose 
of  a  police  force  grows. 

A  patrolman  who  had  a  post  some  years  ago  on 
Cherry  Hill,  in  the  heart  of  the  lower  East  Side  of 
New  York,  used  to  watch  with  sad  eyes  the  stream  of 
pale-faced  women  going  to  work  at  half  past  four  in 
the  morning  to  scrub  floors.  He  said  he  could  not 
help  passing  a  kind  word  as  they  went  by  him,  weary 
in  body  and  spirit;  yet  it  was  a  mistake  to  do  this, 
for  "A  friendly  word  to  one  of  those  women  just  as 
day  was  breaking  meant  a  tearful  woman  coming  and 
pouring  out  her  troubles  to  me  at  7  p.m. ;  and  I  had  to 
help  her  out,  she  was  having  such  tough  luck, — I  had 
to  give  her  some  change,  and  I  wasn't  any  too  flush, 
with  a  couple  of  kids  of  my  own  at  home  with  appe- 
tites like  horses  and  growing  out  of  all  their  clothes." 

A  body  of  fine  men  like  this  are  entitled  to  a  high 
order  of  leadership — which  shall  understand  them, 
care  for  them,  fight  for  their  rights,  and  guard  them 
from  the  private  interests  which  are  ready  to  break 
them  down. 

In  some  cities  the  heads  of  the  police  force  are 
apt  to  change  with  a  shift  of  the  party  in  power, 
and  even  more  often,  according  to  the  exigencies 
and  urgencies  of  the  political  situation.  This  matter 
of  changing  leadership  is  another  of  the  evils  our 
political  system  foists  on  police  forces.  Police- 
men's work  is  difficult  and  puzzling  enough  to  entitle 


Police  Leadership  147 

them  to  steady  standards,  and  to  honest,  definite 
orders.  Given  these,  year  after  year,  they  will  have 
a  fair  chance  to  learn  their  job  in  practice,  and  by 
much  repetition  march  on  with  reasonably  rapid  im- 
provement to  better  things. 

Their  work  suffers  cruelly,  however,  if  standards 
shift,  so  that  they  become  uncertain  as  to  just  what 
is  expected  of  them.  This  superimposes  on  the  in- 
herent difficulty  of  the  job  the  additional  problem  of 
their  leader's  aims  and  purposes.  The  men  develop 
a  habit  of  caution,  and  a  reluctance  to  take 
definite  action  unless  it  is  forced  upon  them.  If 
administrations  change  frequently,  bringing  changes 
in  policy,  in  methods,  in  the  character  of  the  work 
expected,  the  men  form  the  habit  of  never  giving  a 
thought  to  plain,  straight  police  duty  but  only  of 
trying  to  find  out  by  direct  or  devious  channels 
what  the  new  administration  wants,  and  how  it  wants 
it  done.  When  commissioners  are  mere  birds  of  pas- 
sage, as  they  have  been  at  times  in  some  cities,  and 
when  they  fly  so  fast  and  remain  on  the  perilous 
perch  for  so  short  a  time  that  their  species  can 
hardly  be  determined,  is  it  any  wonder  that  the  men 
mark  time,  lie  low,  do  nothing  that  can  be  avoided, 
until  they  find  out  just  where  they  stand  and  what  is 
expected  ? 

The  remark  has  been  made  that  under  some  ad- 
ministrations policemen  would  listen  indifferently  to 


148  Policeman  and  Public 

the  printed,  published  orders  as  they  were  being  read, 
and  then  would  become  alert  for  the  "whispered" 
word  which  followed  and  by  which  they  were  to  guide 
themselves. 

The  story  is  told  of  a  conversation  between  a 
civilian  and  a  motorcycle  policeman  a  year  or  so  ago. 
The  assignment  of  this  motorcycle  policeman  w'as  to 
enforce  the  rules  of  the  road,  and  his  duties  varied 
from  the  serious  ones  of  apprehending  chauffeurs 
speeding  along  at  forty  or  fifty  miles  an  hour,  or 
recklessly  driving  through  streets  where  children 
were  playing,  to  the  less  vital  ones  of  serving  sum- 
monses on  drivers  of  cars  whose  exhaust  pipes  were 
smoking. 

In  the  course  of  the  conversation,  the  civilian 
asked  the  policeman,  "How  do  you  like  your  job 
nowadays  ?" 

"Well,"  the  policeman  answered,  "it's  all  right,  I 
guess." 

"Any  different  from  what  it  used  to  be  before?" 

"You  bet  it  is,"  was  the  answer.  "Nowadays  if  a 
friend  of  the  boss  is  arrested  we  don't  get  word  from 
headquarters  to  change  the  complaint  from  speeding 
to  smoking." 


In  American  cities  there  is  no  special  course  of 
training  for  officers  of  higher  grades.     They  have 


Police  Leadership  149 

all  been  patrolmen,  have  all  risen  from  the  ranks, 
and  they  are  given  no  special  preparation  for 
the  duty  of  the  higher  rank.  All  they  know  of 
it  is  what  they  have  observed  from  below.  A 
patrolman  who  is  promoted  to  sergeant,  for  instance, 
has  never  had  training  in  the  duties  of  the  sergeant, 
as  distinguished  from  those  of  patrolmen.  He  has 
never  been  taught  how  to  get  the  best  out  of  men 
under  his  command,  how  to  lead,  to  control,  to  in- 
spire. He  knows  nothing  of  the  higher  job  except 
what  he  has  observed  while,  as  patrolman,  he  came 
in  more  or  less  frequent  contact  with  sergeants, — 
and  the  principal  thing  he  learned  about  the  sergeant 
was  how  to  avoid  him. 

To  higher  officers  on  police  forces  this  is  a  handi- 
cap which  is  little  understood.  When  we  think  of  the 
methods  taken  by  armies  to  train  officers,  with  the 
four-year  course  at  West  Point,  and  now  in  war  time 
with  Officers'  Training  Camps,  we  cannot  help  won- 
dering why  it  is  that  people  are  content  to  trust 
their  safety  to  the  care  of  police  commanding  officers 
who  have  had  no  training  other  than  that  given 
to  patrolmen.  We  cannot  wonder  under  these 
conditions  that  they  fail  to  take  a  commander's  view 
of  their  job;  that  the  whole  force  has  a  tendency  to 
coalesce;  that  the  distinctions  between  different 
grades  tend  to  disappear;  that  the  mutual  respect 


150  Policeman  and  Public 

due  from  superior  to  subordinate,  as  well  as  from 
subordinate  to  superior,  is  lacking. 

Rank  is  not  in  any  way  a  matter  of  invidious  dis- 
tinction. A  patrolman's  work  is  just  as  honorable 
as  that  of  captain ;  and  the  captain,  if  he  is  worthy 
of  his  rank,  will  respect  the  patrolman  in  his  work 
just  as  he  expects  the  patrolman  to  respect  him. 
But  if  the  captain  is  unable,  or  hesitates,  or  does  not 
know  how  to  accept  the  responsibility  and  do  the 
work  of  his  higher  grade,  he  cannot  get  good  results 
from  his  subordinates.  The  tendency  of  it  all  is  to 
hamstring  the  effectiveness  of  the  organization  by 
providing  it  with  leaders  in  name  only. 

An  explanation  was  being  made  to  the  captain  of 
a  precinct  a  few  years  ago  as  to  just  exactly  what 
was  expected  of  a  captain;  just  where  he  fitted  in  to 
the  work  of  the  whole  organization;  just  what  duties 
he  must  perform  in  order  to  do  his  part  toward 
having  the  whole  police  machine  work  smoothly  and 
effectively;  how  his  job  differed  from  that  of  his 
superior,  the  inspector,  on  the  one  hand,  and  his 
subordinate,  the  lieutenant,  on  the  other.  It  was 
pointed  out  to  him,  first,  that  he  must  know  his  pre- 
cinct thoroughly  and  intimately — must  know  it 
better  than  any  other  person  in  the  city.  Secondly, 
he  must  so  administer  his  work  and  direct  his  men  as 
to  keep  down  crime  and  make  his  precinct  not  only 
safe,  but  wholesome,  and  a  pleasant  place  for  people 


Police  Leadership  151 

to  live  or  work  in.  That  meant  he  must  study  condi- 
tions keenly ;  must  study  the  crimes  that  were  being 
committed,  investigating  them  thoroughly  and 
trying  to  work  out  methods  to  prevent  them;  and 
keep  his  force  steadily  and  skillfully  at  work. 
Thirdly,  he  must  look  after  the  discipline,  welfare 
and  comfort  of  his  men.  He  could  not  expect  them 
to  work  for  him  unless  he  worked  for  them.  The  way 
they  could  work  for  him  was  by  carrying  out  his 
orders  faithfully  and  trying  to  do  what  he  made  it 
clear  to  them  he  wanted  done ;  the  way  he  could  work 
for  them  was  to  keep  the  station  house  clean  as  a 
hospital,  to  be  fair  and  play  no  favorites,  to  en- 
courage them  to  come  to  him  with  their  troubles,  to 
help  them  and  fight  for  them  as  he  would  for  his  own 
son,  to  direct  them  wisely  and  ably.  When  the  need 
for  extra  duty  came,  and  in  some  kind  of  emergency 
they  had  to  work  for  long,  continuous  hours,  he 
would  see  that  they  were  fed,  that  they  got  chances 
to  sleep,  that  they  were  exposed  to  no  danger  that 
was  not  necessary.  Fourthly,  he  was  to  administer 
Hie  station  house  with  economy,  to  keep  his  records 
accurately  and  right  up  to  date,  to  make  required 
reports  promptly  and  comprehensively. 

The  captain  was  asked  if  he  understood.  "Yes, 
Commissioner,  I  think  I  understand,  and  it  is  a  real 
job  you  are  giving  me — a  job  that  none  of  us  ever 
had  or  thought  of  before." 


152  Policeman  and  Public- 

He  was  asked  what  had  been  his  previous  concep- 
tion of  the  job  of  captain,  the  police  officer  in  com- 
mand of  a  precinct  with  perhaps  one  or  two  hundred 
policemen  under  him,  and  with  the  responsibility  in 
his  hands  for  the  safety  of  the  people  in  that  part 
of  the  city. 

"Well,  to  tell  the  truth,  my  idea  of  the  job  was  to 
'get  by,'  to  keep  out  of  trouble,  and  let  no  one  get 
anything  'on  me' — that  was  about  it." 

And  this  must  be  the  inevitable  conception  of  duty 
of  a  responsible  officer  in  almost  any  organization  if 
his  superiors  do  not  make  clear  to  him  just  what 
they  want,  if  they  fail  to  require  him  to  keep  up  to 
the  standard,  and  fail  to  support  him  when  he  runs 
into  difficulties  in  trying  to  do  what  they  expect. 

Where  the  organization  is  not  clean-cut  and  the 
officers  in  the  different  grades  do  not  understand 
just  what  is  the  duty  of  that  particular  grade  and 
what  is  the  best  way  to  be  successful  at  it,  they  are 
sure  to  degenerate  into  using  methods  that  are  most 
damaging  to  the  spirit  of  the  force.  Such  officers 
often  know  no  way  to  enforce  discipline  except  by 
persecuting  a  man  or  "bawling  him  out" — shrieking 
at  him  in  the  presence  of  others  so  loudly  and  with 
such  roughness  as  to  humiliate  him.  The  effect  of 
this  sort  of  thing  upon  both  is  about  as  bad  as  it 
could  be,  yet  too  much  blame  could  not  properly  be 
laid  on  policemen  for  this ;  their  superiors  had  never 


Police  Leadership  153 

taken  the  pains  to  try  to  show  them  anything  better; 
when  they  held  low  rank  higher  officers  had  treated 
them  in  this  way,  so  when  they  in  turn  became  higher 
officers  they  treated  the  men  under  them  likewise. 

A  commanding  officer  should  work  according  to 
two  very  simple  principles :  first,  he  should  treat  his 
men  fairly ;  secondly,  he  should  require  them  to  do 
the  work.  No  commanding  officer  can  be  successful 
unless  the  men  feel  that  he  is  square  and  that  he  has 
their  interest  at  heart,  yet  often  a  square  man  will 
fail  as  a  commander  unless  he  is  able  also  to  exact 
from  his  men  a  high-grade  performance  of  duty. 
The  mushy  leader  never  succeeded  either  in  accom- 
plishing his  work  or  in  achieving  popularity.  The 
cheap  efforts  of  some  commanders  of  men  to  gain 
popularity  by  being  easy  on  them,  by  overlooking 
derelictions,  is  successful  only  in  gaining  a  reputation 
of  being  "soft"  and  negligible.  Popularity  comes  to 
commanders  in  other  ways;  it  comes  to  the  man  who 
shows  that  he  can  command,  can  inspire  and  require 
his  men  to  do  their  duty;  yet  who  deals  squarely, 
tukt-s  a  genuine  personal  interest  in  them,  and  fights 
for  their  rights. 

Men  will  be  cheerful  under  any  amount  of  exacting 
hours  of  work  and  privation  if  they  know  that  "the 
old  man"  is  on  the  job  too,  staying  awake  nights  to 
look  out  for  them,  for  with  such  a  leader  they  know 
the  hardships  they  have  to  undergo  are  unavoidable. 


154  Policeman  and  Public 

A  two-fisted  man — and  most  policemen  are  such — 
does  not  mind  hardship  or  hard  work  or  hard  luck  if 
it  is  necessary  for  the  good  of  the  cause;  he  does 
mind  it,  even  a  slight  amount  of  it,  if  he  feels  that 
it  is  unnecessary  and  could  have  been  avoided  if  his 
chief  had  been  a  little  less  lazy  and  selfish,  or  a  little 
more  competent. 

Men  will  dare  any  danger  under  a  commander  who 
they  are  sure  knows  his  job,  for  if  the  order  comes 
to  do  a  dangerous  bit  of  work  they  know  that  there 
is  no  other  way.  "The  boss,"  they  know  of  old, 
though  brave  as  a  lion  and  stopping  at  nothing  to 
get  the  result,  is  also  cautious  and  resourceful  and 
can  be  depended  on  to  adopt  the  method  most  likely 
to  succeed,  and  safest  for  his  men.  The  only  limit  to 
the  achievements  of  men  led  like  this  is  the  limit  of 
human  possibility. 

A  superior  officer  must  notice  the  work  of  his  men : 
if  it  is  below  par  he  should  instruct  and  explain 
patiently  before  jumping  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
fault  is  with  the  man's  will;  and  if  it  is  well  done  he 
should  express  approval.  He  must  be  forever  train- 
ing and  developing  his  forces,  explaining  better 
methods  to  them,  giving  them  clear  and  definite 
orders,  holding  up  to  them  high  ideals  of  perform- 
ance of  duty.  The  lowest  job  must  be  dignified,  the 
highest  officer  must  make  the  lowest  feel  that  his 
task  is  important,  worth  holding  and  doing  well. 


Police  Leadership  155 

Everything  else  will  be  unavailing  unless  he  sets 
a  good  personal  example.  A  few  years  ago  a  private 
citizen  was  being  "shown  the  town"  in  one  of  our 
large  Western  cities.  Among  other  points  of  inter- 
est he  was  taken  to  a  saloon  in  the  Red  Light  Dis- 
trict which  had  notoriety  throughout  the  country 
as  being  kept  by  a  man  powerful  in  both  political 
and  criminal  circles.  As  the  visitor  stepped  up  to 
the  bar  to  take  a  drink  of  good-fellowship  he  noticed 
that  there  were  two  patrolmen  in  full  uniform  con- 
tentedly partaking  of  the  glass  that  inebriates. 

Turning  to  his  guide  he  asked,  "How  in  the  world 
do  these  men  dare  to  take  a  chance  like  this,  drinking 
in  a  saloon  in  full  uniform  in  sight  of  everyone,  and 
the  sergeants  around?" 

"Oh,"  the  guide  said,  "they're  not  taking  any 
chances ;  the  cops  have  enough  *on'  every  sergeant 
in  the  city  so  that  no  sergeant  could  afford  to  get 
after  them." 

What  can  be  done  in  American  police  forces  to 
improve  the  quality  of  leadership  among  the 
higher  officers?  One  great  difficulty  has  already 
been  touched  on  in  the  discussion  in  a  previous  chap- 
ter of  methods  of  promotion.  In  spite  of  the  burden 
of  such  a  system,  however,  a  good  deal  can  be 
accomplished  by  training;  and  fairness  to  the  officers, 
as  well  as  the  interest  of  the  city,  demands  that 


156  Policeman  and  Public 

policemen  promoted  to  higher  duty  be  given  instruc- 
tion to  fit  them  to  meet  the  added  responsibility. 

This  can  be  done  by  police  Training  Schools,  and 
a  properly  equipped  and  administered  school  is  per- 
haps the  most  indispensable  single  feature  of  the 
police  force  of  a  large  city. 

Such  a  school  has  two  main  functions :  to  train 
raw  recruits  so  as  to  fit  them  for  service  as  patrol- 
men, and  to  train  officers. 

Recruits  cannot  be  turned  out  trained  as  they 
should  be,  mentally  and  physically,  in  less  than  three 
months,  and  at  least  twice  as  much  time  as  this  could 
well  be  devoted  to  them.  For  they  must  be  taught 
the  laws,  and  the  ways  to  enforce  them.  They  must 
also  be  given  a  most  rigorous  course  of  physical 
training,  and  be  taught  how  to  fight,  to  defend  them- 
selves, to  handle  prisoners  who  resist  so  as  to  subdue 
them  without  battering  them  with  clubs. 

One  day  a  prisoner  on  being  arraigned  before  the 
police  magistrate  complained  of  the  way  he  was 
handled  by  the  young  policeman  who  arrested  him. 

"He  wound  his  arm  in  round  my  elbow,  your 
Honor,  and  if  I  made  any  move  except  walking 
straight  along,  it'd  half  kill  me." 

"I  see,"  said  the  judge;  "did  he  hurt  you  as  long 
as  you  walked  along  quietly?" 

"No,  sir." 


Police  Leadership  157 

"Had  you  resisted  when  you  were  placed  under 
arrest?" 

"Well,  I  didn't  like  to  have  the  cop  take  me  in !" 

"Officer,"  asked  the  judge,  turning  to  the  police- 
man, "tell  me  about  this." 

"Well,  sir,  your  Honor,  sir,  this  is  the  first  arrest 
I've  made,  sir,  and  the  croo — the  defendant,  I  mean, 
started  to  run  on  me,  and  talked  ugly,  so  I  just  put 
one  of  the  grips  on  him  I'd  been  taught  in  Training 
School,  and  he  came  along  all  right.  I  didn't  want 
to  have  to  hit  him,  sir." 

Besides  mental  and  physical  training,  recruits 
must  develop  morale,  and  learn  their  obligations, 
their  powers,  and  the  limitations  of  their  powers. 
For  a  well-taught  and  well-trained  policeman  may 
be  only  a  menace  on  the  street  if  he  has  not  also 
learned  self-restraint  and  noblesse  oblige. 

Wherever  police  training  schools  exist  they  are 
used,  with  greater  or  less  success, — to  train  raw 
recruits,  but  it  is  seldom  that  they  are  made  also  to 
serve  the  at  least  equally  important  purpose  of 
teaching  officers. 

No  policeman  should  be  promoted  without  being 
given  such  instruction  and  training  as  is  necessary 
to  fit  him  to  do  the  work  of  his  new  higher  rank. 
Regular  courses  can  be  given  in  the  training  school 
to  prepare  candidates  for  promotion  to  each  of  the 
successive  higher  grades,  and  no  one  should  be  per- 


158  Policeman  and  Public 

mitted  to  enter  a  new  grade  until  he  has  qualified  in 
the  school  and  shown  that  he  can  reasonably  be 
expected  to  perform  his  duties  capably. 

This  is  one  part  of  the  assistance  a  police  train- 
ing school  can  give  to  higher  officers.  The  other  is 
to  provide  continual  freshening-up  courses,  so  that 
every  sergeant,  lieutenant,  etc.,  can  put  in  a  fort- 
night a  year  in  further  training  to  keep  him  up  to 
date  and  prevent  him  from  falling  into  perfunctory 
ruts. 

One  of  the  most  important  things  these  officers 
should  be  taught  is  a  rudimentary  proficiency  in 
military  drill,  so  that  when  they  are  called  on  to 
handle  groups  of  men  they  shall  be  able  to  do  so  with 
confidence,  and  with  a  fair  chance  of  being  able  to 
get  the  group  where  they  want  it  to  be,  and  in  the 
formation  that  will  best  meet  the  needs  of  the  situa- 
tion. Police  officers  are  wofully  weak  at  this,  and 
no  wonder,  for  they  have  practically  no  practice, 
most  of  their  duties  calling  for  contact  with  indi- 
vidual patrolmen  on  post,  and  not  in  groups.  It  is 
therefore  all  the  more  necessary  to  provide  practice 
in  drill,  for  when  policemen  have  to  work  in  forma- 
tion there  is  apt  to  be  emergency  work  on  hand  where 
mistakes  are  costly ;  in  handling  crowds,  for  instance, 
clumsy  work  by  commanding  officers  may  in  a  few 
minutes  change  an  orderly  assemblage  into  a  mob. 

It  is  vital  to  successful  work,  and  an  obligation  to 


Police  Leadership  159 

the  men,  that  they  be  given  the  most  careful  kind  of 
training  in  self-defense.  Policemen  must  be  armed, 
trained,  and  kept  in  training.  It  will  be  found  in 
some  places  that  officers  are  taken  on  the  force  and 
turned  out  on  the  street  to  go  about  their  duty  armed 
with  loaded  revolvers,  and  yet  with  no  training  in 
the  care  or  use  of  the  weapon.  This  was  the  situa- 
tion in  New  York  only  a  few  years  ago.  The  result 
of  it  was  that  if  an  officer  took  a  shot  at  anyone  on 
the  street,  about  the  only  safe  individual  within  the 
range  of  his  gun  was  the  criminal  he  was  shooting  at. 
The  policeman  is  entitled  to  a  thorough  course  of 
training  in  revolver  shooting,  starting  with  methods 
of  sighting  the  revolver,  and  of  squeezing  the  trigger, 
and  not  ending  until  he  is  proficient  at  snap-shooting 
without  sighting.  It  is  only  fair  also  that  before 
being  sent  out  on  the  street  to  perform  duty,  he 
should  be  put  into  first-class  physical  condition, 
should  be  taught  to  box  and  to  wrestle,  should  have 
mastered  a  few  simple  jiu  jitsu  tricks  which  will 
enable  him  to  handle  a  fighting  prisoner  without 
clubbing  or  mauling  him.  And  then  the  policeman 
should  be  encouraged  to  keep  himself  fit.  The  cour- 
age of  the  men  will  be  made  more  sturdy  and  instinc- 
tive if  they  have  confidence  in  their  own  powers,  in 
their  marksmanship,  their  ability  to  use  their  hands 
and  bodies,  and  if  they  keep  themselves  in  sound 
physical  condition,  hard  and  supple. 


160  Policeman  and  Public 

It  is  really  a  grave  question  whether  policemen 
should  be  allowed  to  carry  revolvers  at  all  unless  they 
qualify  periodically,  showing  that  they  still  know 
how  to  handle  the  weapon  and  can  shoot  straight 
enough  not  to  be  a  menace  in  the  street.  It  is  a 
fairly  dangerous  thing  to  arm  an  officer  with  as  de- 
structive a  weapon  as  a  six-shooter  and  give  him  a 
certain  amount  of  authority  to  use  it,  when  he  is 
completely  incompetent  to  use  it  properly,  and 
cannot  even  hit  near  the  bull's-eye  of  a  stationary 
target  in  a  quiet  pistol  range,  to  say  nothing  of  a 
moving,  escaping  felon  in  a  crowded,  excited  street. 
It  is  a  question  further  as  to  whether  a  police  ad- 
ministration is  not  responsible,  at  least  morally,  for 
any  harm  that  may  be  done  with  a  revolver  by  an 
officer  who  has  not  been  properly  trained  to  handle 
and  fire  it.  Unless  he  is  trained  and  has  passed 
satisfactory  tests  the  administration  knows,  and 
should  probably  be  held  responsible  for  acting  on  the 
knowledge,  that  he  is  an  unsafe  man  to  be  allowed  to 
use  a  revolver. 

It  is  certainly  unwise  to  give  police  power  to  any- 
one who  has  not  been  thoroughly  trained  and  tested, 
and  found  to  be  qualified  to  exercise  it  wisely,  with 
restraint,  yet  strongly  when  the  occasion  calls  for 
force.  It  is  unfair  to  the  public  as  well  as  to  the 
individual  officer.  For  the  public  can  hardly  help 
suffering  repeatedly  at  the  hands  of  ignorant  officers 


Police  Leadership  161 

who  do  not  know  clearly  what  their  duties  are  and 
what  are  the  limitations  of  their  duties,  who  have 
not  been  made  to  realize  their  responsibility,  and 
been  taught  how  to  act  so  as  to  measure  up  to  the 
important  demands  made  upon  them.  The  police- 
man is  entitled  to  thorough,  able  training  which  does 
not  stop  the  moment  he  goes  on  the  street  but  con- 
tinues during  his  police  life.  If  he  acts  harshly  or 
cruelly  or  ignorantly,  it  is  no  one's  fault  except  that 
of  the  public  and  the  police  administration,  unless 
everything  that  could  reasonably  be  done  to  fit  him 
to  perform  his  job  well  was  done  for  him  before  the 
.shield  was  pinned  on  his  breast  and  he  WHS  called  to 
his  post  for  duty. 

The  well-trained,  capable,  confident  man  is  the 
man  most  likely  to  accomplish  his  purpose  without 
reporting  to  extreme  measures, — and  proficiency  is 
what  lends  confidence.  If  an  officer  knows  the  law, 
knows  the  methods  of  enforcing  it,  knows  just  what 
part  he  plays  in  the  organization,  is  well  trained  to 
use  his  body,  his  club  and  his  revolver,  he  is  apt  to 
look  formidable,  and  the  chances  are  strong  that  he 
will  enforce  order  and  prevent  trouble  on  his  post 
Dimply  by  being  there.  The  officer  who  does  not  give 
the  appearance  of  being  able  to  handle  himself  and 
others  is  the  very  man  who  will  be  likely  to  be  called 
upon  to  meet  trouble. 


X 

The  Public's  Part 

IN  some  cities  the  police  force  is  a  close  corpora- 
tion, run  by  itself  for  its  own  sake,  the  chief 
coming  from  its  own  ranks,  just  going  on  the  same 
way  year  after  year,  doing  the  same  old  things 
in  the  same  old  way.  It  resents  interference,  or 
being  called  on  for  unusual  work;  it  "knows  it  all." 
"Leave  us  alone,"  is  the  attitude;  "we  know  how  to 
do  the  police  job;  if  outsiders  will  only  keep  their 
hands  off  and  stop  meddling  we  shall  be  all  right." 
It  is  a  thing  apart  from  the  life  and  the  needs  of  the 
community. 

What  would  the  citizen  of  many  an  American 
city  see  if  he  looked  closely  at  his  police  force?  The 
individual  policemen  he  would  find  to  be  rather 
portly,  slow  moving,  their  gait  showing  fallen 
arches.  They  have  healthy  red  faces,  are  rather 
shiftless  in  the  way  they  carry  themselves,  are  not 
overcourteous,  not  overintelligent. 

The  organization,  he  will  find,  "just  growed"  from 
the  single  village  constable,  gradually  increasing 
until  it  became  a  city  police  force.  It  may  be  under 


The  Public's  Part  163 

civil  service,  or  not.  If  so,  then  it  is  likely  to  be 
stagnating  from  the  premium  the  civil  service  system 
of  promotion  places  upon  mediocrity.  If  not,  it  is 
probably  a  sort  of  political  club.  Such  organiza- 
tion is  like  a  string  of  beads :  there  is  no  subordina- 
tion and  subdivision  of  authority.  Everyone  and 
everything  is  directly  responsible  to  the  chief.  He 
for  his  part,  through  no  fault  of  his  own,  has  had  no 
experience  in  organization  which  would  fit  him  to 
plan  out  the  work  so  as  to  make  it  easiest  for  his 
men  and  most  useful  for  the  city.  His  whole  con- 
ception of  his  job  is  probably  pounding  the  beat, 
keeping  traditional  records,  keeping  out  of  trouble. 

The  conception  the  force  would  have  of  its  duties 
could  also  be  pretty  well  summed  up  in  this  phrase 
"pounding  the  beat."  It  does  not  know  just  why  it 
"pounds,"  but  this  is  what  has  always  been  done; 
and  then,  if  someone  comes  along  who  needs  to  be 
arrest t-d,  the  officer  is  there  to  do  it.  There  is  no 
readjustment  of  beats  to  conditions,  no  conception 
of  the  need  of  a  quick  and  responsive  touch  with  the 
(•hanging  nreds  of  the  community. 

Now,  instead  of  that,  what  ought  an  American 
citi/en  to  see?  The  individual  policeman  should  be 
alert,  active,  intelligent, — flat-fronted,  instead  of 
flat-footed.  As  the  arches  of  his  feet  are  up,  so 
should  his  aspect  be,  his  eyes,  his  mien,  his  aim. 

The  organization  he  should  find  fitted  to  the  duties 


164  Policeman  and  Public 

it  has  to  perform,  just  as  an  army  or  a  big  business 
organization  is  arranged  so  as  to  meet  and  conquer 
any  difficulties  that  arise. 

In  the  army,  for  instance,  when  a  new  element  in 
warfare  appears,  such  as  the  use  of  poisonous  gas, 
what  happens?  At  once  the  organization  is  read- 
justed to  deal  with  this  new  factor.  Chemists  study 
the  question  scientifically  to  invent  not  only  defen- 
sive measures  but  also  other  gases  and  effective 
methods  of  attack.  Masks  are  provided,  with  all 
the  infinite  care  and  skill  that  are  necessary  to  make 
them  work  right.  In  the  first  place,  the  inventor  has 
to  devise  a  kind  of  mask  that  will  keep  the  man  in  the 
front  trenches  alive  and  in  fighting  form  when  the 
gases  come  rolling  over  on  him.  These  have  then  to 
be  turned  out  in  very  large  quantities,  and  the 
greatest  care  has  to  be  taken  in  manufacture  to  make 
certain  that  they  have  no  defects  either  from  care- 
less workmanship  or  from  sabotage,  for  one  pinhole 
may  cost  the  life  of  the  hapless  soldier  who  puts  on 
that  particular  mask.  The  troops  then  have  to  be 
trained  exactly  how  to  use  the  mask,  and  they  must 
practise  until  they  acquire  the  necessary  speed  in 
adjusting  it  firmly,  for  one  second's  slowness  in  the 
proper  adjusting  and  fastening  of  the  mask  may 
make  the  difference  between  life  and  death.  And 
while  the  inventor  is  creating  the  mask,  and  the  manu- 
facturer is  making  it,  and  the  army  commander  is 


The  Public's  Part  165 

training  his  men  to  use  it, — all  the  time  some  other 
division  in  the  organization  must  be  looking  ahead, 
trying  to  anticipate  possible  new  varieties  of  gas 
that  may  perhaps  need  new  kinds  of  masks  for 
protection. 

In  the  same  way  a  police  department  may  be  up 
against  an  entirely  new  situation,  or  an  old  situation 
so  developed  and  changed  as  to  be  practically  new. 
The  dope  habit  as  we  see  it  today,  for  instance,  is  of 
comparatively  recent  origin,  and  the  dope  fiend  is  a 
new  kind  of  criminal,  doubly  dangerous  because  of 
the  work  that  he  may  do  while  under  the  stimulus  of 
the  drug,  and  the  lengths  to  which  he  will  go  to  pro- 
vide himself  with  drugs  to  satisfy  the  craving  of  his 
tortured  frame.  How  would  a  police  force  of  the 
old  conventional  type  meet  that  situation?  Un- 
doubtedly if  a  policeman  placidly  pacing  the  pave- 
ment happened  to  have  a  drug  fiend  come  on  his  beat 
and  commit  a  crime  there,  he  would  take  him  into 
custody,  beat  him  into  submission  if  he  resisted,  hale 
him  to  court  and  charge  him  with  the  crime.  If  found 
guilty,  the  offender  would  be  sent  to  jail.  This  would 
be  the  conventional  method,  the  sole  order  of  pro- 
cedure that  would  be  followed  where  the  organiza- 
tion is  not  adaptable,  where  the  conception  of  duty 
is  simply  to  go  ahead  as  usual,  and  if  this  does  not 
meet  the  needs  of  the  citizens — hard  luck  on  the 
citi/ens ! 


166  Policeman  and  Public 

/  An  emergency  like  this,  however,  must  be  met  by 
a  police  force  just  as  vigorously  and  intelligently 
as  the  army  meets  a  new  war  method.  The  whole 
question  of  drugs  must  be  studied.  Endeavor  must 
be  made  to  find  the  sources  of  supply,  and  the  most 
skillful  detective  work  be  used  in  order  to  apprehend 
and  thwart  illicit  traders.  Victims  of  the  drug, 
mere  users  of  it,  must  be  treated  not  as  criminals  but 
as  patients,  and  the  police  force,  working  in  co- 
operation with  other  departments  in  the  city,  must 
provide  means  for  treating  the  cases.  The  adequacy 
of  the  laws  must  be  considered  and  such  legislation  as 
is  necessary  be  advocated  so  as  to  prevent  the  deadly 
drug  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  any  except  repu- 
table doctors.  The  policeman  therefore  cannot  rest 
with  simply  arresting  any  drug  fiend  he  happens  to 
run  across.  He  must  study  the  question,  must  get 
at  the  causes,  must  devise  the  best  means  of  remov- 
ing the  causes,  and  then  must  fight  until  this  is 
accomplished. 

And  finally,  the  citizen  carefully  examining  his 
police  force  should  see  a  body  of  men  animated  by 
the  spirit  of  service,  and  undertaking  the  duty  not 
merely  of  going  through  a  mechanical  performance 
of  routine,  but  of  doing  whatever  they  can,  in  old 
ways  or  in  new,  to  make  the  city  a  safer,  a  more 
wholesome,  and  a  happier  place  for  people  to  live  in. 

The   influence   of   an   informed   public   opinion   in 


The  Public's  Part  167 

raising  police  work  to  this  high  standard  has  not 
been  potent.  Public  opinion  manifests  itself,  if  at 
all,  in  spasms  of  indignation  againsi  particular  mani- 
festations of  police  negligence,  or  blundering,  or 
dishonesty.  The  public  does  not  show  sustained 
interest,  and  the  effect  of  this  is  that  police  forces 
have  acquired  the  habit  of  taking  in  sail  when  the 
hurricane  of  public  resentment  rises  and  weathering 
the  storm,  knowing  that  it  will  blow  itself  out  in  a 
short  time  and  the  waters  will  again  become  smooth, 
and  safe  for  indifferent  or  piratical  sailors. 

It  is  of  course  difficult  for  the  public  to  tell  whether 
police  work  is  being  well  done  or  not;  this  is  one  of 
the  most  puzzling  features  of  the  situation.  In  a 
factory  it  is  another  story ;  the  efficiency  of  the  head 
of  a  department  can  be  very  accurately  measured. 
If  the  work  of  his  department,  for  instance,  is  manu- 
facturing rivets,  record  can  be  kept  of  the  num- 
ber the  department  produces  weekly,  and  the  cost  of 
production  per  rivet.  If  he  is  able  to  maintain 
or  increase  the  production  of  first-quality  articles 
at  no  greater  or  a  little  less  expense  of  production, 
he  is  doing  his  work  well.  If  he  falls  below  in  num- 
bers or  mounts  higher  in  expense  he  is  not  doing 
well. 

Policing  a  city,  however,  is  very  different  from 
running  a  factory.  It  is  difficult  to  tell  whether  the 
policeman  is  doing  good  work  or  not  because  the 


168  Policeman  and  Public 

results  of  his  good  work  are  not  clearly  apparent, 
as  are  the  results  in  manufacturing.  There  might 
be,  for  instance,  three  burglaries  in  a  certain  police 
precinct  during  a  week,  yet  it  would  be  hard  for  the 
public  to  decide  whether  the  work  of  the  police  was 
atrocious  in  allowing  so  many  burglaries  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  commendable  in  keeping  the  number  so 
low.  And  you  cannot  judge  by  burglaries  only: 
there  are  all  sorts  of  crime  to  be  prevented,  all  sorts 
of  regulations  to  be  enforced,  of  conditions  to  be 
maintained.  Even  with  the  most  careful  records 
it  is  difficult  to  gauge  the  effectiveness  of  the  men 
in  charge,  since  one  factor  may  offset  another, 
and  the  nature  of  the  work  is  such  that  it  does 
not  easily  lend  itself  to  statistical  representation. 
Usually,  however,  we  shall  be  right  in  concluding 
that  the  work  is  not  as  well  done  as  it  might  be. 
Very  little  work  is.  And  we  shall  not  go  far 
wrong  if  we  conclude  that  the  work  would  be  better 
if  the  public  took  a  continuing  interest  in  it,  inform- 
ing itself  as  well  as  possible  of  the  results ;  and 
making  it  worth  while  for  the  policeman  to  try  to  do 
better. 

The  public  is  entitled  to  be  furnished  with  com- 
plete and  accurate  police  records.  These  probably 
exist  now  in  only  a  very  few  American  cities,  for  the 
helpfulness  of  facts,  the  usefulness  of  exact  informa- 


The  Public's  Part  169 

tion  as  to  what  is  being  done,  has  not  yet  been  gen- 
erally understood  by  the  police  mind. 

In  New  York  a  few  years  ago  a  system  of  report- 
ing crimes  was  instituted.  No  record  worth  the 
name  had  been  kept  of  crimes  that  had  been  com- 
mitted ;  the  only  record  was  of  arrests.  Apparently 
it  had  been  more  convenient  to  keep  track  only  of 
those  cases  where  results  were  achieved.  A  system 
was  introduced  whereby  every  crime  reported  to  the 
police  was  recorded,  so  that  the  officers  responsible 
should  know,  not  merely  how  many  people  were  being 
arrested  for  certain  crimes  in  a  precinct,  but  how 
many  crimes  were  being  committed  in  that  precinct. 
This,  after  all,  is  what  we  are  most  interested  in. 

When  this  system  was  well  under  way,  and  crime 
was  shown  to  be  too  prevalent  in  certain  precincts 
tin-  question  was  taken  up  with  the  captains  as  to 
what  could  be  done  to  reduce  it.  Almost  invariably 
a  gratifying  reduction  ensued,  and  the  head  of  the 
force  took  considerable  satisfaction  in  the  efficacy 
of  his  measures. 

As  time  went  on,  however,  the  results  seemed  almost 
too  good  to  be  true.  Inquiry  was  made,  and  the  sad 
conclusion  was  reached  that  the  reduction  was  one 
on  paper  only.  Often,  very  likely  in  perfectly  good 
faith,  when  a  captain  was  told  that  there  was  too 
much  crime  in  his  precinct,  that  the  figures  showed 
it,  he  simply  thought  it  was  up  to  him  to  have  the 


170  Policeman  and  Public 

figures  show  something  different.  Complaint  had 
never  been  made  before  as  to  the  prevalence  of  crime 
—no  one  had  paid  any  attention  to  such  an  irrele- 
vant feature  of  police  work;  it  was  not  conditions 
that  were  wrong,  then,  it  was  this  plaguey,  incon- 
venient report  that  a  new  theoretical  administration 
had  got  out.  If  the  report  had  not  shown  things 
wrong,  things  would  not  have  been  wrong,  and  it  was 
far  easier  to  improve  the  report  than  improve  con- 
ditions. So  a  judicious  number  of  complaints  of 
crime  were  simply  not  entered  on  the  book.  The 
crimes  had  occurred  all  right;  people  had  been 
robbed ;  houses  had  been  broken  into ;  citizens  had 
been  held  up  in  the  street,  but  this  had  never  caused 
any  trouble  for  the  captain  before,  and  it  wouldn't 
now  if  it  were  just  kept  off  the  books. 

Two  things  were  done  to  remedy  this  conception 
of  report  making.  In  the  first  place  it  was  made 
clear  to  commanding  officers  that  the  administration 
had  just  one  purpose,  to  keep  down  crime;  that  these 
reports  were  required  only  so  that  everyone,  captain 
as  well  as  commissioner,  might  know  exactly  what 
was  happening  in  his  precinct,  and  might  thereby  be 
guided  to  take  remedial  measures,  but  no  captain 
was  going  to  get  in  trouble  so  long  as  it  was  clear 
that  he  was  honestly  trying  to  do  the  best  work  he 
knew  how.  In  the  second  place,  a  new  system  of 
records  was  devised  with  careful  checks  so  that  it 


The  Public's  Part  171 

would  be  difficult  and  risky  for  anyone  to  return  in- 
complete or  inaccurate  figures. 

The  extraordinary  result  was  that  whereas  crime 
had  been  steadily  "reduced"  throughout  the  fall  and 
early  winter  while  the  system  of  "canning  com- 
plaints" had  flourished,  and  although  to  the  closest 
observer  there  was  no  apparent  difference  in  crime 
conditions  when  the  New  Year  was  ushered  in,  yet 
the  number  of  crimes  officially  reported  in  the  city 
for  the  last  week  of  December,  when  the  old  comfort- 
able custom  of  non-recording  existed,  was  about  one- 
half  the  number  reported  for  the  following  week,  the 
first  in  January,  under  the  new  system  with  its 
effective  checks.  The  lullaby  of  falsified  figures  was 
never  more  strikingly  illustrated;  it  seemed  a  shame 
to  wake  everyone  up  by  rudely  insisting  on  facts! 

Indeed,  the  commissioner  was  seriously  advised  by 
a  friendly  officer  not  to  have  the  facts  recorded ; 
"for,"  he  said,  "if  there  should  one  of  those  investi- 
gations of  the  department  come  along,  they  would 
bo  mighty  inconvenient!" 

There  is  no  mystery  about  police  work,  although 
much  mystery  has  been  thrown  about  it.  There  is 
no  reason  why  figures  of  crime  should  not  be  avail- 
able to  anyone  who  is  interested.  There  is,  of  course, 
sound  reason  why  facts  should  not  be  published  which 
would  interfere  with  the  success  of  specific  work,  but 
these  facts  are  few  and  practically  are  confined  to 


172  Policeman  and  Public 

information  as  to  the  progress  of  special  cases  in 
which  the  offender  would  have  a  better  chance  of 
eluding  justice  if  he  could  find  out  just  what  the 
police  knew. 

Inefficiency  and  negligence  are  hard  to  conceal  if 
results  have  to  be  furnished.  The  best  cover  to  con- 
ceal poor  work  is  the  thick  veil  of  mystery — the 
insistence  that  there  is  something  about  police  work 
that  must  be  kept  shrouded  in  secretiveness  or  the 
work  will  suffer.  The  truth  is,  that  if  clouded  in 
secrecy  it  is  pretty  sure  to  be  badly  done.  All  our 
cities  will  be  safer  and  our  police  forces  will  be  better 
workers  if  the  closed  book  is  opened  up,  if  the  light 
is  let  in  and  the  public  sees.  This  can  be  done,  for 
it  has  been  done,  and  with  gratifying  results. 

Probably  everyone  believes  that  policemen  should 
be  honest,  and  agrees  that  everything  possible  should 
be  done  to  keep  them  honest.  Yet  individuals  who 
would  enthusiastically  endorse  this  are  prone  some- 
times, under  pressure,  to  act  in  ways  which  directly 
tempt  policemen  to  dishonesty. 

A  friend  of  a  police  commissioner  once  called  him 
up  over  the  telephone  and  in  a  voice  a  little  excited 
told  him  that  he  had  been  arrested. 

"Hard  luck,"  was  the  answer.  "What  had  you 
been  doing?  Running  too  fast?" 

"Why,  yes,"  he  said.  "How  did  you  know  that? 
That  is,  the  policeman  said  I  was  going  too  fast." 


The  Public's  Part  173 

"Well,  how  fast  was  it?" 

"The  policeman  said  thirty-five  miles  an  hour," 
he  answered. 

"How  fast  were  you  going?" 

"Well,  I  might  have  been  going  twenty." 

"Twenty-five?" 

"Possibly." 

"Thirty?" 

"No,  I  don't  think  so." 

"Did  you  look  at  your  speedometer?"  asked  the 
commissioner. 

"No,  but  I  know  pretty  well  how  fast  I  was  going ; 
I  have  driven  so  much." 

"Well,  I  am  sorry  for  your  sake  you  got  caught. 
Better  luck  next  time." 

To  which  he  replied :  "Wait  a  minute !  I  have  been 
arrested — that  is,  served  with  a  summons  to  appear 
in  court  tomorrow.  Can't  you  do  something?" 

"Well,  of  course,  I'll  do  anything  I  can  for  you, 
but  just  what  do  you  think  I  could  do?" 

He  hesitated  and  stammered  about  thinking  the 
head  of  the  police  force  could  do  something  for  an 
old  friend  who  had  been  arrested  by  one  of  his  own 
cops. 

"Now,  see  here,"  the  commissioner  answered,  "I 
know  you  mean  all  right,  and  I  would  do  anything 
in  the  world  that  was  possible,  but  in  plain  English 
the  only  conceivable  thing  I  could  do  to  help  you 


174  Policeman  and  Public 

would  be  to  tell  the  policeman  who  served  the  sum- 
mons on  you  to  go  to  court  tomorrow  morning  and 
commit  perjury  in  your  favor  by  my  direction, 
swearing  that  you  did  not  go  thirty-five  miles  an 
hour,  as  he  knows  you  did,  but  that  you  went  only 
twenty  miles  an  hour,  which  he  knows  is  a  falsehood. 
Besides  directing  him  to  commit  the  crime  of  perjury, 
I  should  be  forcing  him  to  stultify  himself  and  ex- 
pose himself  to  most  embarrassing  questions  from 
the  court  as  to  why  in  the  world  he  had  arrested  you 
anyway  if  you  weren't  going  any  faster  than  that." 

"Why — why — of  course  I  don't  want  anything 
like  that ;  I  would  not  think  of  it  for  a  minute.  You 
know  I  wouldn't.  I  just  thought  perhaps  you  could 
do  something.  Good-bye.  I'll  face  the  music." 

When  the  actual  situation  was  placed  before  him 
he  naturally  was  unwilling  to  have  any  such  thing 
done  in  his  favor.  He  at  once  saw  the  enormity  of  it. 
But  if  it  had  been  described  less  nakedly;  if  the 
answer  given  him  had  been  simply,  "Why,  yes,  old 
boy,  I  may  be  able  to  help  you  out.  I'll  see  what  I 
can  do.  Good  luck !" — then  he  would  have  gone  to 
court  with  a  light  heart ;  and  when  the  policeman 
testified  that,  although  he  had  thought  the  speed 
was  thirty-five  miles  an  hour,  he  had  since  realized 
that  his  speedometer  had  been  shaken  and  therefore 
he  could  not  absolutely  testify  with  certainty,  the 
friend  would  have  taken  his  acquittal  with  a  light 


The  Public's  Part  175 

heart  and  a  friendly  handshake  to  the  policeman  who 
had  perjured  himself,  and  walked  off  well  pleased 
with  himself  and  grateful  to  his  friend. 

Such  things  are  ugly,  however,  whether  they  are 
called  by  their  proper  ugly  names  or  not.  The  pub- 
lic forgets  the  Golden  Rule  when  it  tempts  police- 
men to  do  a  dishonest  thing.  Without  going  into 
the  comparative  ethical  ratings  of  tempter  and 
tempted,  it  is  plain  that  the  tempter  does  a  dishon- 
orable deed  and  contributes  his  bit,  which  may  be 
far  larger  than  he  would  dream,  toward  breaking  the 
morale  of  the  very  police  force  that  he  and  other 
members  of  the  public  retain  to  uphold  law  and 
righteousness.  Probably  the  great  trouble  is  that 
people  do  not  realize,  perhaps  because  they  do  not 
choose  to,  just  what  they  are  doing.  It  may  be  a 
good  deal  like  the  situation  with  reference  to  the 
regulatory  laws,  where  the  public  believes  in  certain 
restrictions,  yet  individuals  arc  quite  ready  to  evade 
these  restrictions  for  their  own  personal  conven- 
ience. From  crooks  and  purveyors  of  vice  one  can- 
not expect  any  sort  of  self-denying  conduct  for  the 
sake  of  maintaining  the  morale  of  the  police  force; 
if,  however,  in  a  year  there  were  not  one  single  case 
of  an  average  citizen's  tempting  a  policeman  to  do 
something  unworthy,  the  change  from  the  usual 
course  of  events  would  be  considerable,  and  the  help- 


176  Policeman  and  Public 

ful  influence  on  the  force  far  greater  than  might  be 
supposed. 

A  police  force  is  very  sensitive  and  responsive  to 
public  opinion.  If  it  gets  a  feeling  that  it  has  a  bad 
name  and  that,  no  matter  what  happens,  the  public 
thinks  ill  of  it,  it  will  be  apt  to  accept  the  public 
estimate.  And  it  is  true  not  only  of  police  forces, 
but  of  groups  of  human  beings  under  all  conditions, 
and  also  of  individuals.  If  the  public  seems  to  have 
the  idea  that  policemen  are  all  grafters,  are  all  loafers, 
are  all  fat,  impotent  supporters  of  lamp-posts — that 
public  will  probably  be  fairly  successful  in  moulding 
its  police  force  according  to  its  conception. 

But  the  public  can  be  just  as  powerful  in  raising 
the  morale  of  its  force  as  in  battering  it  down.  If 
citizens  are  ready  to  believe  well  of  the  force ;  if  they 
realize  that  the  despicable  deeds  of  individual  police- 
men may  be  isolated  instances  of  wrongdoing  and 
may  be  perhaps  comparatively  few  when  one  con- 
siders the  total  number  of  the  force ;  if  they  are  slow 
to  condemn,  waiting  for  facts  before  sitting  in  judg- 
ment; and  if  they  are  ready  generously  to  recognize 
good  work,  that  public  will  week  by  week,  by  the 
impalpable  influence  of  its  good  opinion,  raise  the 
tone  and  effectiveness  of  its  force. 

The  public  should  be  just  as  ready  to  recognize 
and  approve  good  police  work  as  it  is  to  condemn  bad 
work.  Unfortunately  it  is  apt  to  hear  more  of  the 


The  Public's  Part  177 

bad  deeds  than  of  the  good  ones ;  the  story  of  the 
grafting  policeman,  hitching  up  as  it  does  in  some 
way  with  the  vague,  mysterious,  misrepresented 
underworld,  always  makes  good  reading.  Plain, 
honest,  steady  performance  of  duty  is  only  dull  read- 
ing, and,  one  is  thankful  to  say,  not  news. 

The  duty  of  the  public  toward  its  police  force  is, 
then:  to  provide  it  with  sound  leadership;  to  keep 
informed  as  to  how  the  work  is  being  done ;  to  insist 
that  the  policeman's  welfare — physical,  mental, 
moral — is  well  looked  after;  to  demand  from  the 
force  a  high  grade  of  performance  of  duty;  to  de- 
spise and  condemn  dishonest  or  any  other  unworthy 
conduct  in  a  policeman  or  one  who  tempts  him ;  but  to 
be  quick,  cordial,  and  generous  in  perceiving  good 
police  work  and  in  giving  it  whole-hearted  approba- 
tion. With  this  sort  of  public  attitude  our  police 
forces  would  be  regenerated ;  the  service  rendered  to 
the  community  would  rise  higher  and  higher;  the 
policemen,  besides  doing  their  work  better  along  the 
old,  tried,  conventional  paths,  would  reach  out  to  new 
methods,  would  find  and  carry  into  operation  means 
to  prevent  crime  and  to  save  those  that  are  tempted 
to  commit  crime ;  so  that  besides  apprehending  crimi- 
nals they  would  go  a  step  farther  and  prevent  crime, 
and  then  again  another  long,  splendid  step  farther — 
and  prevent  people  from  becoming  criminals. 

There  are  no  hidden,  gruesome,  forbidding  prac- 


178  Policeman  and  Public 

tices  necessary  for  the  performance  of  superior 
police  work.  In  the  old  days  of  evil  understanding 
with  criminals,  such  things  existed ;  but  now  when 
the  duty  of  the  policeman  is  conceived  as  not  being 
to  compromise  and  chaffer  with  the  criminal  as  to 
where  and  how  he  may  and  may  not  work,  but  is 
clearly  and  flatly  to  keep  down  crime  in  every  way, 
the  profession  is  an  open,  honorable  one.  The  pub- 
lic should  know  what  is  going  on.  It  has  a  right  to 
know  in  detail  what  its  guardians  are  doing  in  order 
that  it  may  intelligently  conclude  as  to  whether  they 
should  be  discharged,  or  slapped  on  the  back  with 
approval  and  have  their  pay  raised. 

And  the  pojice  on  *hfir  part  need  the  understand- 
ing of  the  pnhlif  T'hffry  are  thrown  inevitably  into 
close  association  with  the  seamy  side  of  life;  they  are 
hired  to  control  it.  They  need,  therefore,  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  great,  wholesome  public.  They 
need  the  spirit  which  they  will  gather  from  it  to 
carry  them  through  the  trying,  tempting  days  when 
they  are  wrestling  with  the  outlaw. 


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